Controversy and a corporate spectacle under the Claw: Trump’s birthday fight night at the White House

Despite a last-ditch legal bid to block the event, the White House spent the night as a marketing department for the private fighting company

A warm Sunday night on the South Lawn - with bright lights, fireworks, a fighter plane flyover, thousands of spectators, and the first major professional sporting event ever staged at the White House - produced many memorable scenes. One might linger more than most.

Justin Gaethje, the American interim lightweight champion, stood alone in the Oval Office in his fight shorts, draped in an American flag, studying a framed Declaration of Independence before he turned to walk out to the cage.