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President Trump celebrated his 80th birthday on Sunday by hosting an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on the White House lawn. Thousands of fans gathered around a massive, 600-ton metal structure known as “The Claw” to watch a series of seven mixed martial arts fights, all of which ended in a knockout, while Trump and his family looked on. Also attending were Trump’s secretaries of state, commerce, defense, treasury and homeland security, along with FBI Director Kash Patel and other top officials. UFC champion Sean Strickland was removed from the event by the Secret Service. The 26-year-old fighter said on social media he was not invited to fight or even to attend because he “made fun of Israel and Epstein.” President Trump is a close friend of UFC chief executive Dana White, and Trump owns stock in the UFC’s parent company. The UFC said some of the fighters at the event would be paid in cryptocurrency “stablecoins” issued by the Trump family business World Liberty Financial. Sunday’s event was screened exclusively on Paramount+, which is run by Trump ally David Ellison.
Special guests Angela Davis, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, Michael Stipe and more came together to celebrate 30 years of Democracy Now! at a sold out Riverside Church event in NYC on March 23, 2026.
