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An 85-foot steel claw rises from the White House lawn, a towering structure built to flood the UFC’s octagon with light during the mixed martial arts event to be hosted by President Donald Trump on his 80th birthday.
Symbolically, the structure illuminates more than just the canvas. It also throws light on action taking place outside the cage: the financial ties linking the event’s promoters, its sponsors and the president staging it.
Billed as a patriotic spectacle and an early nod to the nation’s semiquincentennial, the June 14 UFC Freedom 250 is backed by companies and executives with deep political footprints who have spent millions on lobbying and campaign contributions, according to an OpenSecrets review of federal filings from entities staging, broadcasting and sponsoring the event.
Stock purchases by Trump, political contributions from UFC CEO Dana White and massive super PAC spending by a key event sponsor highlight how tightly the sporting event is woven with the financial interests of the people and groups behind it.
“Sports folks [are] less about right or left politics and more about their own interests – putting on sporting events and making a lot of money from it,” Douglas Hartmann, a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota who studies social issues in sports, told OpenSecrets.
UFC says it is self-financing the $60 million event and is not selling tickets, and White says his organization expects to lose roughly $30 million on it. But that hasn’t stopped Mark Shapiro, president and chief operating officer of UFC parent company TKO Group Holdings, from calling it “the greatest earned marketing tool of all time.”
“The kind of attention, awareness, and sampling we’re going to get from audiences around the world, on that day alone, will be more than we could get in an entire year,” Shapiro told Time.
Shapiro’s comments were quickly cited in a lawsuit filed June 6 by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of two Virginia residents suing the National Park Service to halt the event. The suit calls it “deeply corrupt” and argues it gives White “unfettered access” to the White House and Lincoln Memorial to stage a private, for-profit sporting event complete with promotional and branding opportunities. The Trump administration asked a judge to reject the lawsuit three days later.
“Real politics is the stuff behind the scenes that never gets to the level of public discussion or actual governmental debate,” Hartmann said. “It’s done deals that are behind the scenes. Another part of this is just access and the ability to negotiate these things behind the scenes without having to seem like anything is happening.”
Trump invests in TKO, Paramount Skydance
One example cited in the lawsuit focuses on Trump’s recent stock trading. Less than three months before the event, the president purchased thousands of dollars’ worth of stock in the parent companies of both UFC and the broadcaster airing the fights, according to federal ethics filings.
His annual disclosure dated June 14, 2025 – his 79th birthday and exactly one year before the UFC event – shows he owned between $1,001 and $15,000 in shares of TKO Group Holdings. His first-quarter 2026 filing shows a significant escalation: On March 25, he bought between $15,001 and $50,000 in new TKO Group Holdings stock, along with a separate purchase of between $15,001 and $50,000 in Paramount Skydance shares.
TKO Group Holdings formed in 2023 as the result of a merger between UFC’s former parent company Zuffa – which itself was a subsidiary of Endeavor – and World Wrestling Entertainment. Paramount merged with David Ellison’s Skydance in August 2025, and days later, the company spent $7.7 billion on the media rights to UFC – doubling what ESPN previously paid. Ellison is the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a prominent Trump supporter. The Ellisons are now Paramount’s controlling shareholders.
OpenSecrets reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response. White House spokesperson Davis Ingle previously denied any conflict of interest, telling The Athletic on May 29 that Trump’s assets are held in a trust managed by his children and calling media inquiries “fake news,” “irresponsible” and “continued attempts to fabricate” conflicts. Most presidents put their assets into a blind trust while serving in office.
White’s political spending track record leans right
White – a longtime Trump ally who has spoken at multiple Republican National Conventions – has made nearly $2.5 million in itemized individual political contributions since 2005, according to OpenSecrets data. While he has described himself as nonpartisan, his giving is overwhelmingly right-leaning: more than $1.3 million to Republican candidates, PACs or party committees and another $1 million to a super PAC supporting Trump, according to OpenSecrets reocrds that also show $80,000 going to Democratic candidates and party committees.
His largest single donation was a $1 million contribution in 2019 to the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action. He has also given $18,600 to Trump’s campaigns across six installments from 2017 to 2024.
Trump and White have been close for a quarter century, ever since Trump and UFC’s former parent company struck a deal in 2001 to hold some of its marquee events at Trump properties in Atlantic City, New Jersey – a move White says helped the organization grow more popular. Trump has attended four UFC events as a sitting president. In an interview with ESPN, White called Trump “one of my very good friends.”
White has not made a contribution to a candidate in nearly two years. His most recent donation came on Sept. 23, 2024, when he gave a total of $93,300 across 10 entities that include the Trump campaign and Republican Party committees in eight states. Weeks later, he told the New Yorker he was done with politics and “wants nothing to do with this.” Since then, his lone donation was $5,000 to the TKO Group Holdings PAC on Dec. 9, 2024.
The White House UFC event “obviously has a lot of political implications,” Hartmann said. “But I think it’s a mistake to think that’s the main motivation for the sporting establishment and leadership. … They’re really about how to continue to support, expand, grow and profit from the sports they represent and the big events that they’re trying to produce.”
TKO’s PAC gives thousands to lawmakers
UFC has not reported any lobbying activity in more than a decade, and Las Vegas-based parent company TKO Group Holdings has not reported lobbying the federal government. But its political action committee has been active.
Since December 2023, the TKO Group Holdings Inc. PAC has made 25 disbursements totaling $56,800, according to OpenSecrets research, with $16,000 going to committees linked to Nevada lawmakers. Contributions include:
- $10,000 to Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s leadership PAC.
- $6,000 to Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford, whose district stretches from northern Las Vegas to the central part of the state.
- $6,000 to Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska).
- $5,000 to the Ted Cruz Victory Fund.
Cruz (R-Texas) chairs and Sullivan is a senior member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, which is considering a version of a House-passed boxing reform bill reportedly supported by TKO Group.
Supporters of the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act say it would improve fighter safety and pay. Critics argue it would weaken key protections in the original Ali Act and give TKO and other major promoters too much control.
TKO’s PAC also donated $3,000 to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) in 2025. Issa, who is not seeking re-election, remains a senior member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and the Internet, which oversees copyright law, piracy and digital streaming. Under the seven-year deal announced in August 2025, Paramount owns UFC’s media rights, and the event’s primary bouts will stream exclusively on Paramount+. White has said the viewing audience of the White House event could rival the Super Bowl, annually the most widely viewed television event.
Paramount Skydance spent $1.3 million on federal lobbying in the first three months of 2026 in part on issues related to taxes, broadcasting and its merger with Warner Brothers Discovery, which is still awaiting federal approval. Trump has publicly weighed in on the proposed merger, which was approved by shareholders but has drawn concern from lawmakers.
Asked by OpenSecrets about the company’s lobbying activity and its role in broadcasting an event that is the subject of the lawsuit, a Paramount Skydance spokesperson provided a brief statement that did not directly address those issues and instead highlighted the company’s partnership with UFC and its plans to stream the event on Paramount+. “UFC is one of the most popular and growing sports globally, and we are excited to bring this weekend’s fight to fans nationwide and to play a part in the celebration of America250,” the spokesperson said.
OpenSecrets reached out to TKO but did not immediately receive a response.
Massive donation from sponsor’s parent to pro-Trump super PAC
Two of the event’s presenting sponsors – Crypto.com and Ram Trucks – also have spent hefty sums on campaigns and federal lobbying. For Crypto.com – the lead sponsor for two title bouts and the funder of a $1 million bonus pool for some fighters – fight night comes at a moment when parent company Foris Dax is deeply invested in both shaping federal crypto policy and supporting the president who has championed it.
Foris Dax Inc., the largest donor to what has become the main pro-Trump super PAC, has contributed $35 million to MAGA Inc. between Feb. 14, 2025, and Jan. 23, 2026, Federal Election Commission records show. The super PAC has raised more than $340 million since January 2025 – dwarfing the $57 million raised by groups supporting former President Joe Biden in 2021, according to the Brennan Center.
That support comes at a time when Trump has embraced the cryptocurrency industry, expressing a desire to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world” and supporting crypto-friendly policies throughout his second term.
Foris Dax also spent $650,000 on lobbying in the first quarter of 2026 – its highest quarterly total ever. It spent nearly $2 million in 2025, also a record. Its lobbying efforts focus on finance, taxes and banking, particularly the regulation of cryptocurrency and digital asset markets. Most lobbyists it hired previously worked in government, including:
- Jeff Miller, a GOP megalobbyist and fundraiser who organized a 2024 Trump event that raised more than $2 million.
- Kevin Batteh, a former Commodity Futures Trading Commission enforcement attorney.
- Scott Parsons, ex-CTFC chief of staff.
Those hires are notable because the company’s 2025 lobbying centered on legislation that removed the CFTC’s and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s oversight of one type of cryptocurrency – stablecoins. Under the GENIUS Act, signed by Trump in July 2025, stablecoins are neither securities nor commodities. The law created a bank-like regulatory framework for companies issuing those digital currencies, which are pegged to a stable reference asset like the U.S. dollar to maintain a steady value.
As Foris Dax pushes for crypto‑friendly policies, another presenting sponsor has been pursuing its own priorities on K Street.
Ram Trucks is a subsidiary of Stellantis North America, which itself is a subsidiary of Stellantis NV. The parent organization spent nearly $3.2 million on federal lobbying in 2025, then spent more than $1 million during the first quarter of 2026. The only piece of legislation it has lobbied this year is the REPAIR Act, which would force automakers to share real-time vehicle diagnostics and data with independent repair shops. The measure was sent to committee in February.
Like Foris Dax, most of its lobbyists previously worked in government, notably:
- Shane Karr, a former assistant secretary of transportation for government affairs.
- Stephen Cote, the former staff director of the House Rules Committee.
- Bruce Mehlman, a former assistant secretary of commerce for technology policy.
OpenSecrets reached out to Crypto.com and to Stellantis but did not immediately receive responses from either.
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