President Donald Trump confirmed in a sit-down interview with boxer Jake Paul this week that he will attend the historic UFC event in Washington, D.C., scheduled for the president’s 80th birthday as part of the America 250 celebration.

Trump, a longtime supporter of the UFC, spoke about the highly anticipated event scheduled to take place on the South Lawn of the White House on June 14 that will feature two championship bouts. 

“I will,” Trump responded when asked by Paul if he will be at the event, which has been dubbed UFC Freedom 250. “It’s going to be amazing at the White House. And Dana [White] is a great guy. He’s a good fan of yours, you know. Dana is a good guy. The best. I mean, there’s nobody like him.”

Trump also spoke about the card, which was released days earlier and includes Ilia Topuria going up against Justin Gaethje for the UFC World Lightweight Championship and Alex Pereira taking on Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship.

“[White] had the idea of staging it right at the front door of the White House. We’ll be right in the front door of the White House. And he’s got a tremendous card. I don’t even know if it’s filled out, but I just saw it and it looks like it’s going to be all top guys. They all want to fight at the White House. So it’s going to be in honor of the 250th year. It’ll be great.” 

The card also includes Sean O’Malley taking on Aiemann Zahabi, Michael Chandler squaring off against Mauricio Ruffy, Kyle Daukaus battling against Bo Nickal and Steve Garcia going up against Diego Lopes.

DANA WHITE DISMISSES NOTION WHITE HOUSE UFC EVENT WILL BE ‘TOO POLITICAL’: ‘IT’S A HISTORY-MAKING EVENT’

White said Thursday that the UFC is planning to offer 85,000 free tickets for the outdoor viewing area at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. Tickets for the South Lawn will not be sold, but instead will be comped to members of the military, ESPN reported.

Despite the location and presence of Trump, White has dismissed the notion that the event will be “too political.”

“I mean, I don’t know how it would be too political other than it’s at the White House,” he said in January during an interview with Bloomberg. “Listen, if you look back throughout history, I think [former President] George Bush was a big baseball fan, [former President Barack] Obama was an NBA fan and Trump is a UFC fan. I don’t think that any of those guys being fans made any sport too political.” 

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The UFC event is just one of the many events Trump has planned for the celebration of America’s 250th birthday. Last month, it was announced that an IndyCar race will take place in August and will be free for fans to come and watch.

Fox News Digital’s Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report. 

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For the third time in less than a month, Americans have crushed Canadian sports dreams on the world stage.

After dramatic victories over Canada in both the men’s and women’s Olympic hockey gold medal games, Team USA defeated Canada in the 2026 World Baseball Classic quarterfinals, 5-3. 

Behind a strong start from US pitcher Logan Webb and timely hitting throughout the lineup, the Americans struck early and then held on as Canada mounted a sixth-inning comeback attempt at Daikin Park.

The U.S. jumped out to a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning, with RBIs by Kyle Schwarber, Alex Bregman, Brice Turange and Pete Crow-Armstrong. But Canada got right back in the game in the bottom of the sixth, with an RBI single by Tyler Black and two-run homer by Bo Naylor. 

The Canadians had a sure chance to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, with two men on and no outs, but they failed to score after a popout and then two strikeouts. 

Reliver Mason Miller closed the game out for the U.S. in the ninth inning.

The U.S. now advances to the semifinal round against the Dominican Republic and Canada will have to bask in another bitter loss to the U.S. in a major international tournament, amid ongoing geopolitical tensions between the countries. 

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Team USA manager Mark DeRosa revealed that USA hockey hero Jack Hughes, who scored the winning goal in the gold medal game against Canada at the Olympics, reached out to the American baseball players before Friday’s game. 

“Jack Hughes sent the boys a nice little fire-up message that I put out on their group chat,” DeRosa said during a Thursday press conference ahead of the game.

“I know there are some talks about some hockey jerseys being sent in tomorrow for the guys to wear during BP or out and about in the clubhouse.”

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CIF STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Golden 1 Center, Sacramento

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

Boys

DIVISION I

Damien 58, Folsom 55

DIVISION III

Antioch Cornerstone Christian 74, Birmingham 64

DIVISION V

San Marin 89, Sylmar 64

Girls

DIVISION I

Corona Centennial 73, Clovis 66

DIVISION III

Placentia El Dorado 42, San Jose Valley Christian 40

DIVISION V

Woodland Christian 63, Laguna Hills 30

SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE

Boys

OPEN DIVISION

Sierra Canyon (29-1) vs. Richmond Salesian (29-3), 8 p.m.

DIVISION II

Bakersfield Christian (24-11) vs. San Joaquin Memorial (27-7), 4 p.m.

DIVISION IV

San Juan Hills (21-14) vs. Atherton Sacred Heart Prep (20-11), 12 p.m.

Girls

OPEN DIVISION

Ontario Christian (33-2) vs. Archbishop Mitty (28-2), 6 p.m.

DIVISION II

Santa Maria St. Joseph (17-15) vs. Sierra Pacific (24-11), 2 p.m.

DIVISION IV

Palisades (16-13) vs. Yuba City Faith Christian (33-1), 10 a.m.