Washington, D.C., is gearing up for the first-ever UFC fight at the White House this weekend as the Trump administration marks the country’s 250th birthday with a landmark cage match.
Festivities centered on the UFC Freedom 250 fight on the White House’s South Lawn will launch Friday evening and cap off Sunday night with a lightweight championship bout featuring Justin Gaethje vs. Ilia Topuria. The event, held at a specially constructed outdoor venue known as “the Claw,” is among many that the Trump administration and outside organizations are putting on to mark the U.S. semiquincentennial. The weather, a critical element for the outdoor venue, is looking favorable thus far, with sunny conditions and only a minor chance of rain predicted.
Trump is incorporating the athletic sphere into efforts to mark the United States’s 250th birthday throughout 2026. Aside from the UFC fight, Americans have the rare opportunity to attend a free IndyCar race on the National Mall in August and participate in the “unprecedented” four-day “Patriot Games” high school competition in Washington, D.C., in the fall.
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When is the UFC fight?
The main UFC match will take place at the White House on Sunday, June 14, at 8 p.m., with Trump in attendance, as it coincides with the president’s 80th birthday.
There will be a series of festivities ahead of the Sunday fight, starting off with a UFC press conference on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Friday evening, according to event organizers. On Saturday and Sunday, the public can enjoy live entertainment, see UFC athletes, and more on the Ellipse grounds near the White House, including performances from the Grammy-award-winning Zac Brown Band
Who is on the White House card?
There is a seven-fight lineup for the mixed martial arts event. The seventh was an unexpected addition, joining the card due to Trump’s intervention.
In April, Derrick Lewis was added at Trump’s request. Lewis, who holds the UFC record for most victories by knockout, will face Josh Hokit. UFC CEO Dana White, a close friend of Trump, recounted the story behind Lewis’s inclusion at the time.
“The president said to me, ‘Why is Derrick Lewis not on the White House card?’ I said, ‘I’ll be back in five minutes,’” White said. “I went and called Derrick Lewis, said the president wants to know why you’re not on the White House card. And Derrick Lewis said, ‘Politics. Politics kept me off the White House card.’”
“And I said, ‘Do you want to fight on the card?’” White recounted. “And he said, ‘I absolutely want to fight on the card. Tell the president, ‘Thank you.’”
White said not to expect further additions to the card ahead of June 14. “Unless [Trump] calls me and tells me to do something else, there will be no more fights added to the card,” White said.
UFC announced in April that Crypto.com, the event’s major sponsor, is giving fighters “the biggest bonus in UFC history,” with a pool of $1 million on the line.
UFC announced its full fight card in March. The main event will be Justin Gaethje vs. Ilia Topuria in a lightweight championship unification bout. Alex Pereira will face Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight championship. Sean O’Malley, Michael Chandler, Bo Nickal, and Steve Garcia are among the other fighters on the card.
What will the event be like?
Tens of thousands are expected to attend the fight. While the main venue will have 4,500 seats, thousands more will be able to watch the fight from large screens set up on the Ellipse, an open area near the White House often used for large gatherings.
“In the back at the Ellipse, we’re going to have 100,000, maybe 50 to 100,000 people, I guess,” Trump said. “They’re building tremendous stages, and we’re going to have massive screens of the fight. It’s a very popular sport.”
The event will take place at “the Claw,” a soaring 92-foot-high structure typically used in Europe but customized for the White House occasion. Its construction now appears complete, according to photos captured on White’s Instagram stories.
The bulk of the UFC’s $60 million budget was used on the venue, White told ESPN in a recent interview. The 600-ton European structure was assembled in Pennsylvania and transported to the White House by trailer in May. Once broken down post-fight, the towering structure will be trucked back to Pennsylvania, where it will be repacked in shipping containers for a three-week journey back across the Atlantic Ocean to the Netherlands, according to the network.
At the Ellipse on Sunday, the Zac Brown Band will perform the national anthem for attendees watching the cage match. The band will also perform as part of the festivities on Friday evening at 9:30.
“I’ve been involved in a lot of big events; I have never had an event that has had more interest than the UFC fight we have right at the front door,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office.
Equipment is seen being placed on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Washington for a future UFC mixed martial arts fight to be held on June 14 as part of America 250 celebrations. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) 
Crews work on the UFC fighting ring on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, May 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert) 
Crews work on the UFC fighting ring on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, May 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert) 
Equipment being placed on the South Lawn of the White House is seen, Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Washington. The UFC is holding a mixed martial arts fight on June 14 as part of America 250 celebrations. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
What has Dana White said about the fight?
White said in March that organizers will hand out 85,000 free tickets to the public. The UFC CEO confirmed that no taxpayer money is going into staging the event, after TKO Group Holdings President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro said in February that the UFC would likely spend around $60 million to hold the event at a loss.
“We’re basically going to take over D.C. that whole week with lots of different things for fight fans,” White told CBS. “Then, obviously a one-of-one event to be able to have it at the White House. Fighters will actually walk from the Oval Office to the octagon.”
White said the event marked an opportunity for Americans to come together and celebrate the country.
“From the first fight of the night until the main event, we will tell the story of America,” he told ESPN. “You’ve got the far right, you’ve got the far left, and people thinking that this is going to be like some type of political thing. This is the 250th birthday of America. That’s the story that we’re going to tell. If you are American, this is relevant to you as an American.”
Are there any security concerns?
With the president in attendance, security will be tight. Chandler, one of the fighters, said in March that organizers are “living, breathing, trying to figure out how this event is going to be laid out.”
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“Obviously, when you think about throwing in one new type of event, which the UFC loves to do, a type of fight that has never happened before … now, you couple it with the extra layers of the added security of actually fighting on the White House lawn, the logistics are going to be a lot,” Chandler said during a Fox News interview.
“Security is going to be a massive issue because, at the end of the day, the Secret Service’s job is to protect the president,” White told The Herd with Colin Cowherd in September.
