President Donald Trump has once again brought his daughter into the White House—this time as the lead planner for a high-profile sports event. Ivanka Trump, 43, will work with her father to organize the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bout ever held on White House grounds, UFC CEO Dana White revealed Tuesday.
Ivanka Trump, who served as a senior advisor during Trump’s first term, has kept a low political profile in her father’s second administration. But according to White, the president was determined to involve her in the project.
“When [Trump] called me and asked me to do it, he said, ‘I want Ivanka in the middle of this,’” White told CBS Mornings. “So Ivanka reached out to me, and she and I started talking about the possibilities, where it would be, and, you know, I put together all the renderings.”
Trump, 79, has been a longtime UFC fan. He and Ivanka have attended multiple fights together, often sitting cageside. For months, he has hinted at the possibility of hosting a match at the White House.
White, 56, said he met with Trump on Monday to discuss the plans. The fight is set for July 4, 2026, coinciding with the kickoff of a yearlong celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary. “It is definitely going to happen,” White confirmed, noting his own close ties to Trump and his role in helping the president reach younger male voters during the 2024 campaign.
CBS News reported that a source familiar with White House planning also confirmed the event. Ivanka’s new role marks her first official return to her father’s political orbit in three years. She was an influential figure in Trump’s first term, leading the White House Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship. Her husband, Jared Kushner, also served as a senior advisor.
However, when Trump launched his 2022 campaign, Ivanka declined to participate. On the Him & Her podcast, shortly before her father’s second inauguration, she explained, “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.” In recent years, Ivanka has avoided political controversy, appearing at elite social events such as Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding in Venice.
Still, the opportunity to plan a landmark sports event—guided by her father, who once hosted a UFC match at his Atlantic City casino in 2001—proved compelling enough for her to step back into the spotlight.