Why Conor McGregor Might Be the First to Bring a Fight to the White House
By Ali Hammad November 24, 2025 02:12
Dana White has spent the past six months publicly swearing that Jon Jones is too unreliable to headline the rumored UFC card on the White House South Lawn in June 2026. White has repeated the phrase “I, I can’t have anything go wrong” so often it’s practically a mantra. Yet every time the UFC CEO tries to close the door on Jones, another door swings wide open and walking through it, wearing a custom three-piece suit and a smirk sharp enough to cut glass, is Conor McGregor.
The numbers don’t lie. McGregor remains the single biggest pay-per-view draw in combat-sports history. His 2018 fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov did 2.4 million buys worldwide. UFC 229’s gate of $17.2 million still stands as the highest in company history seven years later. Even his broken-leg loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in 2021 generated 1.8 million buys and a $15.9 million gate numbers that dwarf almost every card since. When White announced in September 2025 that McGregor is “100 percent” fighting again in 2026, the stock of TKO Group Holdings jumped 4.7 percent in a single day.
That’s power. Real power. The kind that makes presidents return phone calls.
Donald Trump and McGregor have been publicly aligned since 2016, when candidate Trump called the then-featherweight champion “a great fighter and a great guy” on the campaign trail. McGregor reciprocated by endorsing Trump’s 2024 run and campaigning in Pennsylvania and Nevada. Fast-forward to July 2025: Trump, fresh off inauguration, tells Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” that he wants “the biggest fight in history” on the White House grounds for America’s 250th birthday. Two weeks later McGregor posts an Instagram video from his yacht: “The White House. South Lawn. June 2026. The biggest fight the world has ever seen. The Notorious one versus… well, we’ll see. Chael, you still talking?” The clip garners 28 million views in 48 hours.
White’s reaction on the September 11, 2025, episode of The Pat McAfee Show told the entire story: “Conor called me the day after Trump said it. He’s like, ‘Book it. I’m in. Whatever weight, whoever, whenever.’ And honestly? That’s the kind of certainty I need for something this big.”
Translation: Jones waffled on $30 million to fight Tom Aspinall and retired/un-retired twice in six weeks. McGregor picked up the phone and said yes before the idea was even official.
The opponent shortlist is short and spectacular. White has confirmed the UFC is targeting a five-fight card capped by a superfight. The working options, per multiple sources inside the promotion:
- McGregor vs. Islam Makhachev (lightweight title) – Makhachev’s team has already agreed in principle to 170 pounds.
- McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 3 (five rounds, 170 or 185) – Diaz told Ariel Helwani in October, “I’ll fight him on the White House lawn, in the Oval Office, wherever. Just make the bag right.”
- McGregor vs. Michael Chandler (the fight originally booked for UFC 303 before the broken toe) – Chandler has repeatedly said he’ll wait “until 2030 if I have to.”
- McGregor vs. Logan Paul (boxing rules, 185-190 pounds) – White shot this down publicly, but Trump privately loves the idea for pure spectacle.
McGregor himself keeps fanning every flame. On November 10 he tweeted: “155, 170, 185, boxing, MMA, left-handed, right-handed… doesn’t matter. I’ll star-spangle the absolute piss out of whoever they put in front of me on that lawn. Proper Twelve will be flowing in the Rose Garden, lads.”
The résumé still dazzles, even if the prime feels distant. McGregor is 22-6 overall, with only two losses since 2016 (both to Poirier, one by doctor stoppage after the leg snap). He has knocked out Hall of Famers Eddie Alvarez, José Aldo, and Chad Mendes in a combined 1:59 of cage time. At 37, he claims the 2024 surgery on his tibia “titanium from ankle to knee” has left him feeling “better than ever.” Sparring footage leaked last month shows the same explosive left hand that starched Aldo in 13 seconds.
Critics will rightly point out the red flags: two years of lawsuits, a Dublin civil verdict finding him liable for sexual assault, the Miami motorcycle incident, the DJ-punching clip from 2019. White’s own words from 2018 “he’ll never fight here again” aged like milk. But this is combat sports, where redemption is spelled P-P-V. When White was asked point-blank on November 15 whether McGregor’s baggage disqualifies him from a White House main event, the CEO laughed: “Brother, this is the same guy who fought Floyd in a boxing ring after smashing a bus with a dolly. The White House is literally perfect for him.”
The math is merciless. A conservative projection of 1.9 million buys at $79.99 generates north of $150 million in PPV revenue alone before gate, sponsorships, and the inevitable government-backed tourism tie-ins for the semiquincentennial. By comparison, UFC 309 (Jones-Miocic) did an estimated 925,000 buys. The White House card needs a supernova, not a candle.
And that’s why, despite White’s very public cold shoulder to Jon Jones, the loudest voice in his ear belongs to the Irishman who once turned a red panty night into a $100 million industry standard.
McGregor closed his most recent press release with a line that feels written for marble engraving: “From the dole queues of Crumlin to the front lawn of the most powerful house on Earth. Only in America, baby.”
If the UFC does plant an octagon where presidents once hosted the Queen of England, the first man to walk out under those floodlights might just be the same one who once promised the world and for one historic night in 2026, actually delivers it.
LATEST
- NEWS
- |
- ARTICLES
- |
- VIDEOS
FAN ARCH PODCAST NETWORK
