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Joe Rogan blasted critics of the UFC White House event during Wednesday’s episode of his podcast, defending the event as a nonpartisan and unprecedented patriotic event.
President Donald Trump marked his 80th birthday in the run-up to America’s 250th anniversary with a celebration on the South Lawn, where 14 fighters from around the world competed inside a wire-mesh cage during the UFC Freedom 250 spectacle.
The estimated 4,300 people in attendance, which included about 1,200 active-duty service members, greeted the president with loud cheers as the occasional “Happy Birthday” was shouted from the crowd. The $60 million event kicked off with the Marine Band’s performance of the national anthem, sung by country star Zac Brown, and was capped off with a flyover by the Navy’s Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds.
Rogan spoke to author Chase Hughes on his podcast on Wednesday, recalling the incredible fights he saw the past weekend, where he claimed that in addition to the 4,300 official attendees, there were an additional 85,000 watching on massive screens just outside the event venue.
DANA WHITE DENIES AMERICA 250 UFC FIGHT AT WHITE HOUSE WILL BE ‘POLITICAL,’ ‘NOT AT ALL’ ABOUT POLITICS
Podcaster Joe Rogan blasted critics of the UFC White House event who have claimed it was political. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
“It was insane. Just the magnitude of it was insane,” Rogan noted. He said that while he is a hyperbolic person by nature, “That was the wildest experience that I’ve ever had in my 20 whatever years of calling combat sports. There’s nothing even close. Nothing even close. It was the greatest night of fights of all time. And it was the only night in the history of the sport where every single fight ended by knockout. “
He added further that he actually had to persuade some people to show up in the first place, noting, “I talked a bunch of people into going that didn’t want to. Like Shane Gillis was thinking about not going. I’m like, ‘Bro, you got to go. It’s going to be epic. It’s going to be a once ever thing. Not a once in a lifetime. Once in anybody’s lifetime. It’s never happened before. It’s probably never going to happen again.'”
“Probably not,” Hughes agreed.
“No,” Rogan said. “But that’s something you have to see and experience.”
DANA WHITE SAYS ‘I DON’T GIVE A S—‘ IF TRUMP FRIENDSHIP COSTS HIM BUSINESS, 250TH EVENT WAS TRUMP’S IDEA
The UFC Freedom 250 fights take place on the South Lawn of the White House on June 15, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Jacquelyn Martin – Pool/Getty Images)
The host went on to lament that “so many people are trying to make it a partisan thing. Like they’re mad at people for being there. Like, ‘Oh, you support Trump.’ Like, it’s a f—ing fight at the White House. Doesn’t mean you endorse foreign policy. Like, shut the f— up. Just please. Just please stop.”
“And again, it’s this thing, the ego thing where people are just — they just want so badly—and on both sides for sure,” Rogan continued. “You know, the right celebrates this as a win for masculinity and patriotism and all these different things. Like, okay, settle down. Everybody settle down. You should all be together.”
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Daniel Cormier and Joe Rogan announce the fights during the UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 14, 2026. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
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