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France has delayed this year’s Group of 7 summit by one day to avoid a scheduling conflict with an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight card planned at the White House on 14 June, according to two officials with direct knowledge of the G7’s preparations.
The summit, hosted by France in the Alpine resort town of Evian-les-Bains, was originally scheduled for 14 to 16 June, a date that coincides with US Flag Day and US president Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. It will now run from 15 to 17 June, a change that has been reflected on the G7’s official website.
The shift follows Trump’s announcement last October that the White House would host a “big UFC fight” on 14 June. Dana White, the president and chief executive of the UFC, mixed martial arts’ biggest promotion, said this week that planning for the event is complete and that it is expected to draw up to 5,000 spectators on the White House South Lawn.
Asked about the change in dates, the office of French president Emmanuel Macron declined to confirm whether it was linked to the UFC event, saying instead that the revised schedule was “the result of our consultations with G7 partners”. The possibility that the summit could be moved because of Trump’s birthday celebrations was first reported by the French regional outlet Le Messager.
The rescheduling underscores the tightly knit relationship between Trump and White, which dates back more than two decades. In 2001, when the UFC was still struggling for mainstream acceptance and was barred from hosting events in many US states, Trump allowed the promotion to stage fights at his Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, providing it with early exposure and a foothold in regulated markets.
Trump has since become a regular presence at UFC events, often sitting cageside for entire fight cards and using the appearances as high-profile public moments. He attended UFC events after leaving office in 2021 and later made similar appearances amid legal proceedings, receiving enthusiastic receptions from crowds. White, meanwhile, has publicly praised Trump’s loyalty and has appeared alongside him at political events including the past three Republican national conventions.
In recent years, the UFC has also become an important platform for Trump’s outreach to younger male voters, a demographic that played a key role in his return to the White House. White has helped facilitate Trump’s appearances on popular podcasts and digital shows closely associated with the promotion and its fan base, amplifying his presence in online spaces that reach millions of viewers.
Since beginning his second term, Trump has further embraced the UFC as part of a broader blending of politics, sport and spectacle. He has attended multiple events with senior administration officials, invited White to the White House and promoted plans for the 14 June fight card – on day four of the Fifa World Cup – as a centerpiece of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
White, who was appointed to Meta’s board of directors last year, has said he does not hold an official role in the administration and has described himself as politically independent. Still, critics argue the UFC has aligned itself with Trump’s political movement, adopting its tone and aesthetics and serving as a reliable stage for the president’s public appearances.
For France and its G7 partners, the decision to shift the summit by a day avoids a diplomatic collision with a highly publicized event at the White House and reflects how Trump’s presidency has increasingly merged governance with political branding and entertainment.
White told CBS News on Thursday that the UFC has completed the logistical groundwork for staging the fight card, including seating, staging and security, after months of coordination with federal authorities. The event is expected to accommodate an invite-only crowd of spectators on the South Lawn, with a larger adjacent viewing area for up to 85,000 fans in the Ellipse park just south of the property.
“We literally just got done going through all of the logistics of how to set it up, how many people we can have,” White said. “It’s looking like we’ll have 5,000 people live on the White House lawn. It’ll be on the South Lawn.” White added that fighters would make a ceremonial walk from the White House to the octagon, underlining the event’s symbolism as well as its scale.
Matchmaking for the event has not yet been announced though White has said work on the lineup will begin in the coming weeks. While several prominent MMA fighters have publicly expressed interest in competing on the card, it has also drawn criticism from within the sport, including concerns about the structure of the fight slate and the challenges of staging a one-off event at a politically sensitive venue.
Trump’s rear naked choke on the world diplomatic calendar comes at a time when the presidency has become increasingly entwined with sport. Since the start of his second term, Trump has made frequent appearances at major sporting events across the US, using high-profile venues and broadcast moments to project visibility and relevance beyond traditional political settings.
