Ivanka Trump has been keeping a low profile in her father’s second stint as president. Once a high-powered senior adviser in his first term, she’d been missing from the daily swirl of White House politics. That’s by choice. But now, Donald Trump has found a way to pull her back in. And this time, it’s not about policy memos or economic initiatives. It’s about the UFC.
Yes, the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
It all started when Trump picked up the phone and called UFC CEO Dana White. “I want Ivanka in the middle of this,” he told him. The plan? To host the very first UFC fight on White House grounds. White was in, and soon Ivanka was on the phone with him, trading ideas about where it could happen and how it might look. “I put together all the renderings,” White recalled during an appearance on CBS Mornings.
Paved over the Rose Garden to put up a UFC fight next July 4th. Dana White just confirmed on @CBSMornings
Ivanka will be involved too.
CBS/Paramount will be paying over a Billion dollars for steaming over 7 years. I can bet this was in the agreement after paying $16M.
— Novelette Dryden (@DrydenNovelette) August 12, 2025
Trump has been a UFC fan for years, often sitting cage-side with Ivanka at major fights. For months, he’s been teasing the idea of bringing the action to Washington. On Monday night, White and Trump hashed out the details. And now the date is set: July 4, 2026. The match will kick off a year-long celebration of America’s 250th birthday.
“It is definitely going to happen,” White promised, noting how much the president has embraced the idea.
For Ivanka, this gig marks a return to her father’s political orbit after three years away. Back in 2016, she campaigned for him and then spent four years in the West Wing, leading the Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship. Her husband, Jared Kushner, was also a senior adviser. But when Trump launched his 2024 campaign, Ivanka decided to sit it out.
On the Him & Her podcast, just before her father’s second inauguration, she explained why: “I love policy and impact. I hate politics. And unfortunately, the two are not separable. There is a darkness to that world that I don’t really want to welcome into mine.” She added, “I know the cost, and it’s a price that I’m not willing to make my kids bear.”
Raise your ✋ hand if you think I look absolutely stunning at UFC pic.twitter.com/jt2TzpUQX8
— ᴺᵉʷˢ Ivanka Trump 🇺🇸🦅 (@IvankaNews_) June 8, 2025
So while Trump waded through trade battles and headlines about his controversial friendships, Ivanka was off living a quieter, if glamorous, life, popping up at events like Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding in Venice.
But a once-in-a-lifetime chance to plan a historic sports event with her father, especially one that brings together their shared love of the UFC, was too tempting to pass up. After all, Trump had hosted a fight before, back in 2001 at his Atlantic City casino. This time, the cage will be set up on the South Lawn. And Ivanka will be right in the middle of it, just like her father wanted.
