The Ultimate Fighting Championship fight at the White House on Sunday is in some ways a birthday present for President Trump, who will celebrate his 80th birthday by cheering on fighters inside the specially constructed Claw on the South Lawn.
A VIP guest at the fight will also be celebrating: David Ellison, the tech heir and CEO of Paramount Skydance, who on Friday received a gift of sorts from the Trump administration.
After months of meticulous courtship by the president and his top advisers, Paramount received word Friday that the Justice Department would not challenge its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, removing one of the last major hurdles to closing the deal.
Once completed, the merger will elevate Ellison, 43, to a rarefied level of media mogul. He will be in charge of two Hollywood film studios; a couple of streaming services, including HBO Max; and two major television news platforms, CBS News and CNN.
Ellison also controls the exclusive broadcast rights to the UFC, one of Trump’s favorite sports, after he paid a whopping $7.7 billion last year for the privilege. Americans looking to watch the 8 p.m. Sunday event at the White House, which consists of seven featured fights, will need a subscription to Paramount+, the streaming platform owned by Ellison.
A representative for Paramount declined to comment.
This is not the first time the president and Mr. Ellison will spend time together at a UFC fight; The men sat together next to the sport’s signature octagon-shaped ring at an event last year in Miami.
The potential merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. has raised alarm bells among Democratic lawmakers and entertainment industry heavyweights, who have argued that the deal could reduce competition within Hollywood and limit consumer choice.
Ellison and his father, software magnate and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, have tried to cultivate Trump in recent years. Larry Ellison appeared in the Oval Office with the president and spoke with Trump as Paramount moved forward with its bid for Warner Bros.
After federal regulators reviewed the merger, Ellison hosted a private dinner for Trump in April at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington. The president sat at a table with Ellison and Bari Weiss, the editor in chief of CBS News.
Numerous senior Cabinet officials also attended, including Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general who oversees the Justice Department; Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff; and the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
On Sunday, Paramount officials plan to host a pre-fight brunch at Ned’s Club, a Washington members-only club, the Status newsletter reported Saturday.
Last August, in an interview with The New York Times about his purchase of the UFC broadcast rights, Ellison said that he and the team at Paramount “couldn’t be more excited about this.”
“From my perspective, the UFC is truly a unicorn sports asset,” he said.
When asked in the interview about Trump’s interest in hosting a UFC event at the White House, Ellison declined to comment.
Juan Koblin contributed with reports.
