The White House South Lawn has hosted various sporting events over the years, but none as unconventional as the UFC bout President Donald Trump is hosting to celebrate his 80th birthday. The event features an eight-sided, wire-mesh cage complete with an open overhead dome and large screens, surrounded by thousands of arena seats.

A Departure from Tradition

While the White House has a history of hosting sports events, such as tennis and T-ball, the UFC event marks a significant departure from tradition. The South Lawn was previously known for low-contact sports and joyful events geared toward children or bipartisanship, like the annual Easter Egg Roll or the congressional picnic.

Many early presidents were talented athletes before taking office. Abraham Lincoln and William Howard Taft were celebrated young wrestlers. John Quincy Adams was fit enough to take daily naked swims in the Potomac River while in office. Teddy Roosevelt was the first to make sports a large part of White House life, installing a tennis court on the lawn.

Trump has been a UFC fan for decades and has attended bouts around the country, hoping to energize voters not usually interested in politics. The UFC’s cage matches mirror Trump’s bare-knuckled approach to politics and sometimes can overlap with his policy initiatives.

A Possible Permanent Fixture

The president has begun suggesting that he could make the cage-fighting venue a permanent South Lawn fixture, which has raised eyebrows among historians and critics. The South Lawn’s octagon was built in a matter of weeks and designed to be temporary, unlikely to survive prolonged exposure to the elements.

Original reporting: Dallas TX News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.