Dana White didn’t just promise a spectacle when he greenlit a UFC event for President Donald Trump’s birthday; he also knew exactly what questions would come next. Before fans could fully wrap their heads around a cage fight framed by the White House and the Washington Monument, the debate pointed to something far less cinematic: who’s paying for it?

With costs expected to soar past the UFC’s $20 million Sphere experiment, concerns about taxpayer money were inevitable. However, the UFC head honcho has now shut down those concerns with a straightforward message. According to White, the UFC isn’t asking for a single dollar of taxpayer money.

As reported by Sports Business Journal and echoed by multiple outlets on X and beyond, White stated, “No, we’re eating the whole thing. So yeah, it’s going to be a historic one-of-one fight, and just like I talked about with the Sphere, we’re going to make the Sphere look like f— ash tray money.”

To understand the scale, you have to look at UFC 306 at The Sphere in September 2024. That event cost the promotion roughly $20 million, making it the most expensive UFC show ever produced. Much of that budget went into Hollywood-level animations, custom lighting rigs, and visual tech designed specifically for The Sphere’s massive LED interior.

That’s why bringing a similar vision to the President Trump-backed event comes with real costs. One example White previously mentioned is a roughly $700,000 expense to restore the South Lawn after the event. Add in logistics, security coordination, broadcast infrastructure, and a production team operating inside one of the most protected locations in the world, and the price tag balloons fast.

Still, Dana White insists the UFC will absorb all of it, which naturally raises the question, why? Because this event isn’t about gate revenue or pay-per-view buys. As per current reports, there won’t be a traditional live crowd, no massive ticket sales, and the event won’t air on PPV under the UFC’s new Paramount deal, but might instead air live and free on CBS. This is branding on a scale the sport has never seen.

And that’s the trade-off. Instead of extracting public funds, the UFC is betting that global attention, political symbolism, and long-term brand value are worth the immediate financial hit. What makes this gamble even wilder is that the money isn’t the hardest part. The real fight is logistics!

Sloping lawns, security, and other hurdles laid out by Dana White for the UFC White House Card

Dana White has been upfront about the scale of what the UFC is attempting on June 14. It’s a full-scale production dropped onto one of the most protected pieces of land on the planet, and White has admitted the problems start before the cage is even built.

In a conversation with TNT Sports, he said, “There’s a laundry list of challenges. First of all, the South Lawn slopes like this, let’s start there.”

As he explained, the South Lawn isn’t flat. It literally slopes, which immediately complicates staging, sightlines, and structural safety. Then there’s capacity. Unlike an arena, there’s a hard ceiling on how many people can even be allowed inside, and that’s before the Secret Service enters the equation.

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While the UFC boss personally has a lot of access at the White House, bringing in roughly 4,500 guests plus fighters, crews, and broadcast staff is a different animal entirely. Every credential, every movement, every piece of equipment becomes a security conversation.

White also noted, “There’s two things: What the Sphere cost is like chump change that you throw in your ashtray compared to what this is going to cost, No. 1. And No. 2, logistically pulling this off is insane.”

If it works, UFC White House becomes a landmark moment, not just for MMA, but for how combat sports present themselves on the world stage. If it doesn’t, the bill will be enormous and the scrutiny even louder. Either way, Dana White has already drawn a clear line: this won’t be remembered as a taxpayer-funded spectacle, but as the UFC’s most ambitious self-funded experiment yet!