CEO of the UFC Dana White and the President Donald Trump before a bantamweight title fight during UFC 316 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on June 7, 2025.

WASHINGTON – Beyond grappling with Congress and foreign adversaries, President Donald Trump will be hosting the White House’s first UFC fight next summer.

Trump, a longtime fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, planned the event for up to 20,000 spectators and a live television audience. The card of fights of mixed martial arts will be part of the yearlong celebrations for the country's 250th anniversary.

While building an eight-sided cage on the South Lawn or weighing athletes at the Lincoln Memorial for the UFC would be unusual, the historic grounds have routinely hosted sports ranging from tennis to T-ball. A president's son died a century ago from a tennis injury.

Here’s what you need to know about how presidents have dabbled in their tastes in sports for more than a century:

Teddy Roosevelt built a tennis court in 1902 near what is now called the West Wing, in the shadow of the office building that housed the State, War and Navy departments, according to the White House Historical Association.

In an echo of that history, Trump recently signed an executive order to return the Defense Department to being called the War Department, although the agency moved to a five-sided building across the Potomac River.

Sports could be dangerous even without brawling in UFC’s Octagon, an eight-sided cage. In 1924, Calvin Coolidge’s namesake son blistered his right foot while playing tennis without socks and died of blood poisoning at 16, according to the historical association.

On the milder side, bowling lanes were first installed indoors in 1947 and Richard Nixon was an avid bowler. First duffer Dwight Eisenhower installed a putting green during the 1950s that Trump has embellished.

The South Lawn occasionally became the coolest place for ice skating, when Jimmy Carter in 1980 and Joe Biden in 2023 built temporary rinks for the holidays.

At the first event, Olympic gold medalist Peggy Fleming performed during holiday parties for the Secret Service, military aides and other staffers. The latter event allowed the children of military families, first responders and educators to lace on skates for a whirl. The National Hockey League and its players offered lessons.

Barack Obama, who arrived in 2009, adapted the tennis court to double for use for basketball, where he would play against aides such as his Education secretary, Arne Duncan, and other visitors. The White House had had a smaller basketball court since 1991 but the adapted court allowed a full-court game.

The White House hosted T-ball games on the south lawn starting in 2001, when George W. Bush, a former owner of the Texas Rangers, became president. The field included a pitcher’s mound, dugout and bleachers, with a menu of hotdogs and hamburgers.

What is bringing the UFC to the White House?

Bringing the UFC to the White House culminated a decades-long friendship between Trump and UFC CEO Dana White.

The first UFC fight held under the ownership of White and his partners was held at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in January 2001.

Trump "gave us our start when nobody would talk to us," White told Fox News in 2018.

White introduced Trump at the 2024 Republican National Convention. And Trump has attended multiple UFC events as president.

Trump suggested during a July 3 speech in Iowa that the fight would be one of the events celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary a year later.

"Every one of our national park battlefields and historic sites are going to have special events in honor of America 250," Trump said. "We're going to have a UFC fight on the grounds of the White House."

White made it definite in an Instagram post on Aug. 28.

“The White House fight is on,” White said, with a picture of him shaking Trump’s hand. “We got it done today.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: T-ball, hoops and hockey: Trump's UFC fight continues sporting legacy at White House

Reporting by Bart Jansen, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect