The $30 million toe in the water

A new account details the teenage friendship-and friction-between Donald Trump and UFC founder Art Davie at the New York Military Academy in the early 1960s, highlighting Trump's early ambition, ego, and political influences that shaped his later career .

According to the report, the relationship between future U.S. President Donald Trump and Art Davie, the future founder of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), began as roommates at the New York Military Academy in September 1962.

At 16, Trump was a supply sergeant from Queens , while Davie,15, was a private from Brooklyn. Their dynamic was marked by Trump's early displays of ego and a strong desire for recognition, traits that Davie says were evident even then.

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Their dynamic was marked by Trump's early displays of ego and a strong desire for recognition, traits that Davie says were evident even then.

Trump admired President John F. Kennedy's media-hyped star status and felt he himself deserved faster promotion at the academy.

An argument over soccer abilities highlighted Trump's self-proclaimed greatness, though Davie conceded he excelled at baseball.

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A clash over etiquette during an inspection, where Davie joked with officers about their unloaded rifles, led to a serious disagreement; Trump accused Davie of streetwise irreverence.

After the Christmas break,the roommates were separated, and Davie was moved to a less desirable section.

Trump eventually became a captain by graduation in 1964, while Davie left, finished high school in Manhattan, and later served in Vietnam .

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Post-service,Davie became entangled in Brooklyn Democratic politics under boss Meade Esposito , learning the art of political negotiation.

Decades later, Trump,now a former president, will celebrate his 80th birthday on June 14 with a UFC championship event on the White House South Lawn—a sport born from Davie's vision, bringing their divergent paths full circle in a symbolic convergence of power and spectacle.