Trump-aligned super PAC plans $1 million fundraiser before UFC event

President Donald Trump’s leading super PAC is preparing a $1 million-per-person fundraiser at his Northern Virginia golf club on Saturday, a day before the White House hosts Ultimate Fighting Championship matches on its grounds as part of celebrations tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The fundraiser will benefit MAGA Inc., which has raised $342 million this election cycle and is expected to play a major role in competitive congressional races in the upcoming midterms, NBC News reported, citing four people familiar with the matter.

People familiar with the fundraiser and the UFC event said the two are independent. But one person with a ticket to the UFC event who also planned to attend the fundraiser told NBC News, “I certainly do not think the timing is coincidence,” saying some of Trump’s wealthy supporters may attend both.

The fundraising event is at least the sixth $1 million-per-person gathering held by Trump-aligned groups for the midterm elections. Republicans across many levels of the campaign landscape hold a significant cash advantage over Democrats, who expect to be outspent in a number of key House and Senate races.

One major exception is the Texas Senate race, where Trump-backed state Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated Republican Sen. John Cornyn in the primary last month. Cornyn had a large fundraising network and likely would have been able to raise much of his own campaign money. Paxton, who faces Democrat James Talarico, is expected to need more outside financial support, with MAGA Inc. expected to help fill that gap.

The UFC event, scheduled for Sunday on Trump’s 80th birthday, is set to begin at 8 p.m. ET and continue past midnight. A ceremonial weigh-in is planned for Saturday night on the Ellipse, just south of the White House, followed by a performance by the Zac Brown Band. Trump has promoted the event publicly, pointing to a 92-foot-tall, 600-ton structure built for the matches.

“We are building something in front of the White House that’s quite attractive to a lot of people,” Trump told reporters last week.

Tickets to the UFC matches are free, though NBC News reported last month that sponsorship packages including cageside seats have sold for $1 million or more. A person close to the company said sponsorship revenue would “help offset UFC’s cost to put on the event” and that none of the money would go to Trump or to his political or private business interests.

The event has drawn a legal challenge. The Public Integrity Project filed a lawsuit Saturday in federal court in Washington seeking an emergency injunction to block the UFC Freedom 250 event. The complaint names the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior as defendants and argues the administration improperly used federal grounds for a private, for-profit event.

“This plan is deeply corrupt,” the lawsuit says. It alleges that the event is being organized by UFC, whose chief executive, Dana White, is a close friend and political ally of Trump, and that it “will likely be profitable for the UFC and its partners.”

The lawsuit also challenges a National Park Service temporary rule allowing the agency to bypass normal permitting for events marking the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, arguing the UFC event does not qualify because it is not fully “planned, organized and executed” by the federal government. The Guardian reported that the suit also alleges the large steel structure was erected without required congressional authorization and without a mandatory environmental review.

A White House official called the case “an obstructionist, baseless, and dilatory lawsuit brought simply to prevent President Trump from hosting what will undoubtedly go down as one of the most historic sporting events in our Nation’s history during our semiquincentennial celebration.”

On an earnings call last month, Mark Shapiro, president and chief operating officer of UFC parent company TKO Holdings, said the company expects to lose as much as $30 million on the matches and related festivities in Washington.

Trump has a long relationship with UFC and White, who has spoken in support of him at Republican presidential conventions. Trump has attended three UFC events since his second term began and went to two others during his 2024 campaign.