Podcaster Joe Rogan, who has attended UFC fights alongside President Donald Trump, has said it’s “weird” to hold the mixed martial arts fight at the White House amid the Iran war.
Six bouts are expected to be held on the White House South Lawn to commemorate America’s 250th birthday on June 14, which will also be Trump’s 80th birthday. UFC Freedom 250’s main event will be between lightweight champion Ilia Topuria and interim champion Justin Gaethje.
But Rogan is wary that if the U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran continue, the UFC fights can make for an easy target.
On The Joe Rogan Experience Wednesday, political commentator Konstantin Kisin asked Rogan, “Are you excited for the White House card?”
“I’m excited. It sounds crazy. I know it’s going to be very high security and high stress and weird to have a fight at the White House in the middle of a f***ing war.
“I would hope the war will be sorted out by June, but quite honestly, I’m not confident that’s going to be the case. So that’ll be weird — having this very high profile event where everyone’s in one place at one time right there,” Rogan replied.
The Trump administration has given conflicting answers about when the war will end. Trump told Axios Wednesday that the strikes, which began nearly two weeks ago, will end “soon” because there is “practically nothing left to target.” The U.S. military said Thursday it has hit about 6,000 targets in the war.
A Quinnipiac University poll taken over the weekend found 77 percent of American voters think it is either very likely or somewhat likely that there will be a terrorist attack in the U.S. because of the Iran war.
When asked when they think the war will end, 18 percent think it will take weeks, 32 percent think months and 26 percent think the conflict will last longer than a year.
Rogan has been friendly with Trump in the past, endorsing him during the 2024 election and hugging him at a UFC fight shortly after his presidential victory that November.
But since Trump took office, Rogan has broken with the president on several issues, such as his sweeping immigration crackdown and the administration’s handling of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Rogan spoke out against the Iran war on his podcast earlier in the week, saying, “It just seems so insane based on what he ran on.”
“I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right? He ran on ‘No more wars, end these stupid, senseless wars,’ and then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it,” the podcaster said.
Trump has claimed that Iran posed an “imminent” threat to the American people because of its “nuclear ambitions” and development of long-range missiles.
But 55 percent of American voters do not think Iran posed an imminent threat to the U.S. before the strikes, according to the Quinnipiac University poll.
