President Donald Trump confirmed in a sit-down interview with boxer Jake Paul this week that he will attend the historic UFC event in Washington, D.C., scheduled for the president’s 80th birthday as part of the America 250 celebration.

Trump, a longtime supporter of the UFC, spoke about the highly anticipated event scheduled to take place on the South Lawn of the White House on June 14 that will feature two championship bouts. 

“I will,” Trump responded when asked by Paul if he will be at the event, which has been dubbed UFC Freedom 250. “It’s going to be amazing at the White House. And Dana [White] is a great guy. He’s a good fan of yours, you know. Dana is a good guy. The best. I mean, there’s nobody like him.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Trump also spoke about the card, which was released days earlier and includes Ilia Topuria going up against Justin Gaethje for the UFC World Lightweight Championship and Alex Pereira taking on Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship.

“[White] had the idea of staging it right at the front door of the White House. We’ll be right in the front door of the White House. And he’s got a tremendous card. I don’t even know if it’s filled out, but I just saw it and it looks like it’s going to be all top guys. They all want to fight at the White House. So it’s going to be in honor of the 250th year. It’ll be great.” 

People hold a flag as President Donald Trump arrives at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in New York.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The card also includes Sean O’Malley taking on Aiemann Zahabi, Michael Chandler squaring off against Mauricio Ruffy, Kyle Daukaus battling against Bo Nickal and Steve Garcia going up against Diego Lopes.

DANA WHITE DISMISSES NOTION WHITE HOUSE UFC EVENT WILL BE ‘TOO POLITICAL’: ‘IT’S A HISTORY-MAKING EVENT’

White said Thursday that the UFC is planning to offer 85,000 free tickets for the outdoor viewing area at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. Tickets for the South Lawn will not be sold, but instead will be comped to members of the military, ESPN reported.

Despite the location and presence of Trump, White has dismissed the notion that the event will be “too political.”

“I mean, I don’t know how it would be too political other than it’s at the White House,” he said in January during an interview with Bloomberg. “Listen, if you look back throughout history, I think [former President] George Bush was a big baseball fan, [former President Barack] Obama was an NBA fan and Trump is a UFC fan. I don’t think that any of those guys being fans made any sport too political.” 

UFC president Dana White and former United States president Donald Trump attend the UFC 296 event at T-Mobile Arena on Dec. 16, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The UFC event is just one of the many events Trump has planned for the celebration of America’s 250th birthday. Last month, it was announced that an IndyCar race will take place in August and will be free for fans to come and watch.

Fox News Digital’s Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report. 

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

In-form Southampton ended Championship leaders Coventry’s six-match winning run with a 2-1 victory at the CBS Arena.

Flynn Downes pounced on a rebound to open the scoring shortly after half-time before Kuryu Matsuki doubled Southampton’s lead with five minutes remaining.

Victor Torp’s stoppage-time penalty gave Frank Lampard’s side hope in the final moments, but the Sky Blues were condemned to just their second home defeat of the season.

It meant that Tonda Eckert’s side kept pace with sixth-placed Wrexham in the race for the play-offs as Saints extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 12.

It was a cagey opening, although Cyle Larin almost opened the scoring for Southampton when he hooked narrowly wide from Matsuki’s header back across goal.

Larin, who scored a last-gasp equaliser at West Brom on Wednesday, was one of three changes to Saints’ starting XI.

There was a huge blow for the visitors as Leo Scienza, who came off in the draw against the Baggies, failed to recover in time to be in the squad.

Coventry’s main threat came down the left through Ephron Mason-Clark, who had the beating of James Bree and crossed for Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, but the Japanese winger could only head over.

Luke Woolfenden then headed wide from close range from another Mason-Clark cross as Coventry continued to cause issues from out wide.

Southampton then had Bayern Munich loanee Daniel Peretz to thank as he made an incredible save to prevent Liam Kitching from opening the scoring on his 100th appearance for the Sky Blues.

Haji Wright had been given a rest in Coventry’s 3-0 win over Preston in midweek but was recalled to the starting line-up, and the American striker almost added to his 16 league goals this season when he volleyed Mason-Clark’s cross inches wide.

Southampton stunned the CBS Arena just three minutes after the restart.

Matsuki’s cross evaded both Larin and goalkeeper Carl Rushworth and rebounded off a post, where it was met by the onrushing Downes who could not miss from inside the six-yard box.

Ryan Manning went close to doubling Southampton’s lead six minutes later with a free-kick that whistled past the right-hand post.

Wright had scored six goals in Coventry’s six games since the turn of the year and was presented with a golden chance to equalise when he headed Milan van Ewijk’s hanging cross straight at Peretz.

Southampton doubled their advantage in fortunate fashion when Bree’s corner hit the leg of the unmarked Matsuki and rolled past the helpless Rushworth.

Torp then stepped up to dispatch a penalty he had won himself after he was fouled by Shea Charles.

The inevitable onslaught followed as Coventry desperately searched for an equaliser, but Peretz was able to breathe a sigh of relief when he held onto Romaine Esse’s shot following a goalmouth scramble.

With a new NFL media rights deal potentially on the horizon, new bidders on the outside looking in are likely to make their pitch to be brought into the football family. 

To do so, the offers need to be quite lucrative. 

The NFL reportedly had a fall timeframe to complete a new media rights deal, but John Ourand of Puck reported earlier this month that it is now believed the league wants it done before Week 1 in September. The league technically can’t exit the current media rights deals until after the 2029 season, but there isn’t expected to be any opposition to getting something new done with its partners. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

With additional media partners potentially entering the fold in this potential new deal, as well as the incumbents like FOX, CBS and NBC, the NFL should see more than its roughly $10 billion per year.

But one former NFL Pro Bowler believes these streaming services trying to jump one another to acquire rights to the most profitable professional sports league in the U.S. will need to find ways to team up themselves.

“There’s all kinds of FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television) services and all different ways to distribute,” ex-NFL linebacker Shawne Merriman said on “Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich.” “The NFL is working heavy in their FAST channels distributing out to Pluto and Amazon Freevee, YouTube. This thing is not gonna stop and what will happen is it’ll become a bidding war. And what we’re gonna see over time, because NFL rights are getting so expensive, is bundling. 

EX-NFL STAR CAUTIONS LEAGUE ABOUT ‘GIVING FANS TOO MUCH’ AS THANKSGIVING EVE GAME REPORTEDLY EYED

“These networks are gonna be bundling up – YouTube with a TikTok. There’s gonna have to be a lot of that because these NFL rights are going to be so damn expensive, these streaming services are going to have to figure it out.”

If that happens, the question then becomes how does it impact the NFL consumer? 

The FCC said last month it would seek public comment about the ongoing shift of live sports from broadcast channels to streaming services, which includes the other major sports leagues in the country like the NBA, MLB and more. For the NFL specifically, to catch every ounce of action throughout the 2025 season, fans had to pay at least $575, with some spending nearly $800.

Shawne Merriman #56 of the San Diego Chargers walks on the sideline in the game against the Seattle Seahawks on Aug. 15, 2009 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

NFL Sunday Ticket’s new subscribers had to pay $276 for the season, but existing customers with a YouTube TV membership had to fork over $378. With no membership to YouTube TV, it was $480. Then, the primetime slots went to different streaming platforms like Netflix ($7.99 for cheapest subscription), ESPN’s new streaming service to only include live sports ($29.99), and Peacock’s “Premium” membership ($10.99) to watch “Sunday Night Football.”

In total for streaming, ESPN cost $179.94, Peacock was $54.95 , Amazon Prime Video was $35.96, and NFL+ was $20.97. Add it all up for new Sunday Ticket subscribers, and the 2025 NFL season cost for those fans was $575.81. If you were an existing Sunday Ticket subscriber without YouTube TV, it cost $779.81.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell noted that negotiations for a new media rights deal won’t happen until the NFL Players’ Association votes in a new executive director. 

And to finish with food for thought: Ourand also noted in a newsletter last month that streamers will be getting the larger chunk of the NFL media rights pie.

Shawne Merriman attends Warner Bros. Pictures And Gravity Pictures’ Premiere of ‘The Meg’ at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on Aug. 6, 2018 in Hollywood, California.  (Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“That model would likely include five games each, including four international games the league took back from NFL Network and the two Christmas Day games that Netflix currently has for one more year,” Ourand wrote. 

As Merriman put it, “The NFL is smart. They’re gonna make the most money they possibly can.” 

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.