US President Donald Trump, a big fan of combat sports, announced on Sunday that he would hold a mixed martial arts (MMA) fight at the White House on June 14, his 80th birthday.

"On June 14th of next year, we will have a big UFC (the world's leading MMA league) fight at the White House, right at the White House, on the grounds of the White House," the US president said during a speech in Norfolk, Virginia, for the 250th anniversary of the US Navy.

UFC boss Dana White, a close associate of Donald Trump, had already announced last August that an MMA event would be held at the White House to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States. The date originally planned was July 4, the national holiday in the United States.

Throughout his career, which has spanned show business and politics, Donald Trump has often appeared alongside boxers like Mike Tyson and wrestlers like Hulk Hogan. Since becoming president again, he has regularly attended UFC fights, a passion that predates his return to the White House.

He enjoys tough guys and combat sports like MMA, which he pioneered in the performance halls of his casinos.

In thirty years, MMA has gone from being a "pariah" sport to a major, fashionable discipline, somewhere between spectacle and politics. It generates billions of dollars, a far cry from the days when, deemed too violent, it was banned in 36 of the 50 American states.

In 1996, Arizona Senator John McCain—who would become Donald Trump's bête noire—denounced a "human cockfight."

As the years passed, MMA, bolstered by the increased respectability of its presidential anointing, took root in conservative America.