WASHINGTON, June 14 — Donald Trump celebrates his 80th birthday in typically forceful style on Sunday, as the oldest US president ever to take office holds a bloody cage match on the White House lawn.

The unprecedented “UFC Freedom 250” event will see 14 Ultimate Fighting Championship stars beat each other to a pulp in a giant arena called The Claw.

Costing $60 million, it’s linked to this year’s festivities for the 250th anniversary of US independence – but it also happens to fall on the day that Trump enters his ninth decade.

Critics have derided the violent extravaganza in America’s most famous backyard, saying it is in poor taste during a war with Iran that has sent prices soaring for ordinary people.

Trump may clinch a long-sought peace deal with Iran on his big day, although Tehran has cast doubt on that timing.

The billionaire president – who has deep ties with a sport whose young male fans reflect his own political base – defended the UFC event as a unique spectacle.

“This is going to be an event you’re really gonna like,” Trump said as he hosted some of the muscle-bound, bare-knuckle fighters in the Oval Office in May.

The White House says the UFC is bearing the entire cost.

UFC chief content officer Craig Borsari denied blending sport with politics.

“The way we look at this is we have an unbelievable, incredibly unique opportunity to celebrate this country and our athletes,” Borsari told a news conference this week.

The structure known as “the Claw” is seen on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. on June 12, 2026 before the UFC Freedom 250 event. — AFP pic

‘Great fighting machine’

In a dramatic touch, some of the top fighters taking part in Sunday’s event are reportedly set to emerge from the Oval Office itself before marching out to the historic South Lawn.

The fights themselves will take place in the Octagon, an eight-sided wire mesh cage, surrounded by seats for more than 4,000 spectators.

UFC combatant Michael Chandler, who is fighting on Sunday, said it was the “biggest fight event in combat sports history.”

French fighter Ciryl Gane also said he was focusing on the sporting element.

“We’re not in politics in any way but we have the opportunity to be exposed to the eyes of the world – we have to take it,” he told AFP earlier this month.

There will be a nod to the 250th celebrations with historical “vignettes” between bouts, Axios reported, and there will also be military bands, a US military flyover and parachute display and a 10-minute fireworks finale.

Dana White, president and chief executive officer of Ultimate Fighting Championship, watches as United States military jets perform a practice flyover before the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House in Washington, D.C. on June 12, 2026. — AFP pic

‘Big flashy show’

Another battle has already been won. A US judge on Friday rejected a bid by two local residents to halt the fight on the grounds that the event was corrupt.

Trump’s birthday fight has already taken over much of downtown Washington.

The fighters are being weighed in outside the Lincoln Memorial, and there’s space for some 125,000 people to watch the event on giant screens on the National Mall.

The macho spectacle has also distracted from questions about Trump’s health as he turns 80.

Trump loves to compare his virility to Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, who was forced to drop his bid for a second term after a disastrous debate with the Republican.

But from bruised hands to a vein condition in his legs and apparent sleepiness in meetings, Trump has also had a number of issues, even though his doctor says he’s in excellent health.

Trump admitted that he was “not happy about that birthday that I’m having,” in a video posted by one of his officials this week. “It’s not a number I like, but I’m here nevertheless.”

In fact the former reality TV star will be front and centre throughout the gore and glitz, as he always is.

“He’s treating the presidency the way he treats his previous career, a big flashy show,” Peter Loge, director of George Washington University’s School of Media, told AFP.

For his last birthday, Trump oversaw an unprecedented military parade in Washington, marking the 250th anniversary of the US army. — AFP

WASHINGTON, June 12 — Rarely a week goes by without US President Donald Trump lavishing praise on the bodies of men he meets — fawning over “the muscles on this guy,” or an athlete’s “tree trunk” legs, or a UFC fighter who is “too good looking” to be in the ring.

While the remarks have sparked much online commentary about Trump’s sexuality, some experts link the president’s fascination with attractive men to his broader glorification of virility.

That trend has been further illustrated by his decision to host an MMA competition — a particularly brutal sport with scantily clad, musclebound men — at the White House for his 80th birthday on Sunday.

“It’s almost like he is trying to reach for this glorified manhood that he cannot embody anymore,” said Sabrina Karim, a political science professor at Cornell University.

“He is getting older so he cannot help but having this sense of loss,” she told AFP.

‘Touch his leg’ 

During a recent Coast Guard graduation, Trump invited onto stage “the only cadet who earned a perfect score on every single fitness test.”

As the cadet made his way to the stage, Trump remarked: “I want to check him out! Woah! Look at the muscles on this guy!”

While on a trip to Wisconsin, the president met Olympic speed skating champion Jordan Stolz, after which Trump lamented forgetting to touch his leg.

He’s also described a naval cadet’s arm “like steel” and called Jaxson Dart, quarterback for the New York Giants football team, a “beautiful guy” with “legs like tree trunks.”

Trump also sizes up foreign leaders, noting the good looks of Paraguayan President Santiago Pena and Syria’s Ahmad al-Chareh.

During the 2024 campaign, the billionaire raised eyebrows with his riff on golf icon Arnold Palmer’s manhood: “When he took showers with the other pros, they came out there, they said, ‘Oh my God, that’s unbelievable.’”

Gay magazine The Advocate recently noted that “Donald Trump loves a beautiful man,” adding that his UFC birthday party will be “the most elaborately homoerotic spectacle in the history of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

A viral lip-sync parody video by Bransen Gates (@Branhattan on Instagram) of Trump’s comments about men has racked up over a million likes.

“I’ll kiss every guy, man and woman, look at that guy, how handsome he is. Not — not with a lot of enjoyment but that’s OK,” the excerpt goes.

‘The irony is rich’ 

The president has even borrowed his favourite song to close rallies with — the Village People’s YMCA — from the gay community.

“The irony is rich” for an administration that has “worked tirelessly” to signal in every way “that gay men are not welcome in this America. Because DEI,” the Advocate article noted.

“In the US, presidential elections have always been masculinity contests,” Dan Cassino, a professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, told AFP.

“Trump took that subtext, and made it text, and that lack of subtlety has been his strength.”

As a former beauty pageant organiser, the president also notoriously comments on women’s looks, once causing a diplomatic stir by praising Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

He has also repeatedly attacked the appearance of White House reporters, calling a New York Times journalist who wrote about his health “ugly,” and reproaching a CNN anchor for not smiling.

That’s part of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) playbook, Cassino said — to mobilise young men who turned out in large numbers for him in 2024.

“First, you have to denigrate women, to show that they don’t have the traits that men do,” Cassino said.

“Second, you have to highlight men who do have these traits. For the most revanchist, retrograde men, MMA fighters are a good example of the kinds of traits men should have: young, muscular, strong and willing to use violence.”

And it’s all connected to Trump’s self-image, Cassino said.

“These men look like the AI slop pictures that Trump posts of himself on his social media feeds,” he said.

“The message is clear: This is what men are like, and that’s why they should be in charge.” — AFP