I took a tour of the White House Octagon, Trump’s ultimate safe space. Here’s what I saw.

WASHINGTON — During tough times in President Trump’s political career, the Ultimate Fighting Championship has always offered him refuge.

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Just months after the January 6 riots at the Capitol, when Trump’s political future was at its most uncertain, he popped up at a UFC fight in Las Vegas. Two years later, days removed from pleading “not guilty” to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York, Trumpwas againcageside at a UFC event in Miami, greeted by raucous chants of “U-S-A.” The next year, shortly after he was found guilty on all 34 counts, Trump was cheered by a UFC crowd in New Jersey.

For a president with an eye for spectacle, who fancies himself a fighter above all else, the marriage is natural. Much of the UFC’s overwhelmingly young, male audience also count themselves as part of his MAGA base. When general public opinion of Trump is low, he knows the UFC crowd,its fighters, andthe company’s top brass will all have his back.

In short, it’s Trump’s safe space. And now,at a time when his approval ratings are near a record low, he’s brought it to the White House’s backyard.

I toured the space, with hundreds of other members of the press, where the UFC fights will take place on Sunday — Trump’s 80th birthday — ostensibly in celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary.

As we walked past the West Wing remade in Trump’s image, I caught my first glimpse of the 92-foot overlapping steel arch structure dubbed “the claw.” It peeked out at me from behind a magnolia tree and a bronze statue of George Washington.

Stepping closer, I pondered whether this is what Roman gladiators must have experienced walkinginto the Colosseum.

And similar to ancient Rome, most of those who will be able to get as close to the cage as I did will be elites. Tickets cannot be purchased. In order to sit within the claw, attendees must either be invited by the president himself, be a member of the military, purchase a $1.5 million VIP sponsorship package, or get the nod from UFC President Dana White, as Tom Brady, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Adam Sandler reportedly have (though none have accepted the invitation, according to Vanity Fair).

UFC fans — or curious Washingtonians — without those lofty connections will have to settle for watching the action on jumbotrons from The Ellipse, a green expanse just south of the White House residence grounds.

The claw itself is situated on the South Lawn, famously where the president’s helicopter known as Marine One takes off and lands. On Thursday morning, the 4,000 seat structure, complete with four jumbo screens, dominated the landscape. One of the only patches of South Lawn grass not enveloped by the claw is the president’s putting green.

At the epicenter of it all is the cage where blood will be spilled. The Octagon, made up of eight black chain-link fence walls, is surprisingly small in-person. Just 30 feet in diameter, the cageoffers about 750 square feet of fighting space.

Although the Octagon’s mat was covered by a tarp to protect it from possible rain, its red, white, and blue color scheme was visible if you looked hard enough. What was not hard to notice, however, were the corporate sponsor logos that adorned the cage’s padding — Ram, Morgan & Morgan, Bud Light, Crypto.com — all with once-in-a-lifetime ad space in front of the People’s House.

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The press was given near free reign of the claw structure, only the cage itself was off limits. Though it was admittedly hard not to daydream about the impending bloodsport in front of the White House, I peeled my eyes away long enough to take in the unencumbered views of Trump’s White House renovations offered by the claw’s scaffolding.

To the northwest, the paved-over Rose Garden, gold “Oval Office”lettering, and bronze Founding Father statues gleamed in the morning sun. In just a few days’ time, the main event fighters will walk out to their chosen music from the Oval to the Octagon.

To the north, the executive mansion perfectly framed the Octagon, with a Secret Service agent watching us intently from the roof. To the northeast, construction on Trump’s ballroom was ongoing to the humdrum tune of heavy machinery. To the east, the Treasury Building was draped in America 250 regalia. To the south, the lawn’s fountain is flanked by temporary, UFC-branded structures — the kinds of vinyl tents used for outdoor weddings. Looming even farther away was the fan area on the Ellipse, and the Washington Monument. To the west, the Eisenhower Executive Building stands ready for its conversion into UFC fighter locker rooms.

All this comes at a hefty cost, of course. White has said the UFC is set to lose $30 million putting on the event, and that the company is receiving no taxpayer assistance. (A lawsuit attempting to stop the event recently revealed it has cost at least $60 million). Of course, for a marketing opportunity such as this, it’s a small price to pay.

The fights will surely be the pinnacle of a mutually beneficial relationship between Trump, White, and the UFC that began in 2001.

Back then, the UFC was far from mainstream. The late Republican Senator John McCain famously derided mixed martial arts as “human cock fighting” in 1996, and led efforts to ban the sport across the country. As such, White struggled to find a venue that would host the UFC for his first fight in charge of the promotion.

In stepped Trump, who offered up his Atlantic City casino known as the Taj Mahal. The rest is history. Trump and White became fast friends whose relationship has even survived Trump backing a rival MMA promotion in the late 2000s.

The president has become a fixture at UFC events, attending the first of his four fights as the sitting president in 2019. Dana White, in turn, has presented Trump at two Republican National Conventions. On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump showed up at six UFC events in person. White was credited with encouraging Trump to appear on podcasts that are popular with young men, not least that of Joe Rogan, a long-time UFC commentator.

The seeds of the White House UFC card were planted shortly after Trump won the 2024 election. White said Trump suggested it as the two took in a fight at Madison Square Garden.Still, White insists there are no political undertones to his latest link-up with Trump.

“If you love America, you’re going to love this event,” White said during a recent appearance on ESPN. “It has nothing to do with politics. We just happen to be on the White House lawn, and the president of the United States will be there.”

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