A few weeks before UFC heads to the White House for “Freedom 250,” U.S. President Donald Trump has bought into the MMA brand’s parent company.
Trump recently bought stock in TKO Group Holdings, the company in charge of WWE, UFC, and other entertainment entities, a new report from Huffington Post has revealed. A financial disclosure from earlier this month shows that Trump invested somewhere in the range of $15,000 and $50,000 worth of shares in the company.
UFC plans to stage fights on the White House South Lawn next month as part of a first-time event for the MMA promotion. Construction of the show’s stage started to appear in Washington this week.
The event, which takes place on Flag Day, as well as Trump’s birthday, will be headlined by a lightweight title bout between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje.
The newly-discovered investment has raised questions of corruption, something Trump’s business moves while holding office have caused many times before. Some have critiqued that Trump is now using his own platform as President to market a company he actively profits from.
“Using the White House to promote a company whose stock you bought while promoting it is one of the worst conflicts of interest you could imagine,” Jordan Libowitz of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington told HuffPost.
Trump has long been tied to the UFC. Company CEO Dana White often tells a story about how the President offered his Trump Taj Mahal hotel as a venue for the struggling promotion in the early 2000s.
White has spoken at the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Republican National Conventions in support of Trump’s election. Trump has appeared at numerous UFC events, notably using the pay-per-view broadcasts as part of his election campaign two years back.
Trump credited White for his ability to help reach younger voters in the latest U.S. election.
“[White] introduced me to people I never heard of, young kids,” Trump told TIME Magazine last month. “I mean, I was being interviewed by 20-year-old kids. I’m saying, ‘Where the hell did you meet these people?’ They’re called influencers. But I did a lot. I became friendly with some of them. They’re nice kids, and they do have a big audience, and everything helps.”
