Topline
The White House is less than two weeks away from hosting a mixed martial arts fight dubbed “UFC Freedom 250” on President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday, and the president has indicated the purpose-built arena currently covering the South Lawn—dubbed “tacky” and “undignified” by some reports—could become a permanent fixture.
Key Facts
In a TikTok video this week, Trump compared the arena to France’s iconic Eiffel Tower, which was originally built as the centerpiece of the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris and meant to be taken down after 20 years.
He said the UFC arena is “quite attractive to a lot of people” and mused, “maybe we’ll never, ever take it down.”
UFC Freedom 250 is scheduled for June 14 and will being tens of thousands of MMA fans to Washington D.C., roughly 4,300 of which will watch from the White House lawn while up to 100,000 other people watch on screens at the nearby Ellipse Park.
As the fight approaches, the event has become a major talking point in political circles and civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton recently compared the event to bygone “fights for the slave masters,” claiming, “Trump and others are trying to bring us back to an America that we struggled to get out of.”
Seats on the White House lawn will be filled with a few ticket holders who paid an estimated $1.5 million for VIP seats and the remaining tickets have been divided up between the White House, TKO and the UFC (and CEO and founder Dana White has invited a handful of celebrities to sit ringside).
At least 1,200 of the approximately 4,300 seats on the lawn for the fight will go to active military members, Time reports, but internal military memos show soldiers must meet height and weight requirements to get a ticket.
Selected military members must pay their own way to Washington D.C., preference will be given to junior enlisted and junior officers who are “genuine UFC fans,” family members aren’t invited and attendees are required to meet a waist-to-height ratio of .55, meaning their waist size must be 55% or less of their total height.
A popular Facebook page for military members shared the list of requirements and captioned the photo, “No Fatties at UFC White House Event.”
Adam Sandler And Mario Lopez Are No-Shows
Representatives for actors Adam Sandler and Mario Lopez confirmed to Forbes they will not attend the event next month despite White saying they were invited alongside Tom Brady, Jason Statham, Jared Leto, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (a TKO board member) and Guy Ritchie. A publicist for Lopez told Forbes he won’t be able to attend due to a conflict with his filming schedule for “Christmas at the Starlight,” and Sandler’s publicist said he won’t be going, either. We have reached out to the others to see if they will attend. Livestream star Adin Ross, who hosted Trump for an interview ahead of the 2024 election, in April said he’d turned down million-dollar offers for his UFC Freedom 250 tickets but in a stream this week said he’d decided not to go: “I’d rather just watch it at home with my dad,” he said.
What Is Ufc Freedom 250?
The UFC, run by longtime Trump ally White, is planning the first-ever sporting event on the grounds of the White House on June 14, headlined by Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje competing for the lightweight title and Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane squaring up for an interim heavyweight title. Construction of a purpose-built, 4,000-seat arena is underway on the White House grounds and will hold a full 87-foot UFC Octagon, massive video screens, red, white and blue staging and a custom overhead lighting structure called “The Claw.” The Ellipse, a 52-acre park south of the White House, will host a fan festival where 75,000 to 100,000 people are expected to watch the fights for free.
How Much Will The White House Ufc Fight Cost?
The UFC is expected to spend about $60 million on the production, including constructing the arena and paying the fighters, according to a March Sports Business Journal interview with Mark Shapiro, president of UFC parent company TKO. White has said the company, not the government, will pay the full cost and added UFC will lose approximately $30 million on the event. Shapiro called it “the greatest earned marketing tool of all time,” and “a once-in-a-generation moment,” he added.
Surprising Fact
White has said the UFC will spend $700,000 to repair the grass that will be damaged on the South Lawn by the arena.
Will Taxpayers Pay For Any Of The Event’s Costs?
It’s unclear. The White House told Forbes there will be “no taxpayer dollars being used outside of what would be applied towards employees normal duties and responsibilities.” What exactly that means isn’t clear, but it likely means the White House plans to use existing employees, like Secret Service agents who would already be on duty, for costs incurred for the protection of the president and some other security measures. Beyond that, it’s unclear who will pick up the tab for things like crowd control, traffic and other law enforcement presence at both the White House and Ellipse Park. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed to Wrestling Inc., an industry publication, that UFC Freedom 250 has been designated a “SEAR 1” event, the highest security classification given to special events, putting it on par with the Super Bowl and the Chicago Marathon. It cost the city of Santa Clara, California about $6.4 million in policing and other security services to host the Super Bowl earlier this year, according to local reports. President Donald Trump attended the Super Bowl in New Orleans in 2025, and a Snopes investigation reported the outing cost taxpayers millions of dollars in transportation, Secret Service payments and broader security measures, including the deployment of nearly 700 DHS employees.
How Much Are Tickets To The White Hose Ufc Fight?
There’s no way to buy standard tickets for the event. The UFC has given away about 85,000 free tickets to fans who want to watch the matches on massive screens at Ellipse Park, about 1,000 feet away from the main event and not on White House property. The main fight on the South Lawn is invite-only, and seats have been allocated to military personnel, administration officials and VIP guests selected by Trump and UFC leaders. High-rollers and corporate sponsors can access VIP packages for $1.5 million that include seats on the White House lawn and access to a private reception, the ceremonial weigh-ins, press conferences, a Zac Brown Band concert the day before the event and floor seats for UFC 329, an event in July that will feature Conor McGregor’s first fight in five years.
How To Watch Ufc Freedom 250
UFC at the White House will still be streamed live on Paramount+ starting at 8 p.m. EDT Sunday, June 14. Plans start at $8.99 a month, and a subscription is required.
Chief Critics
Online commentators and critics of Trump have called the event “a disgrace” and tone deaf, in part due to Americans struggling with the impacts of the ongoing Iran war. UFC commentator Joe Rogan, once a big Trump fan who has split from the administration in recent months, said in a March podcast that it’s “weird to have a fight at the White House in the middle of a f***ing war.” White defended the event, telling Rolling Stone the UFC “can’t just bend and break and roll over for every bad thing that happens in the world.” Rogan—who still will be working the fight as a commentator—has also said he thinks the event is a “gimmick” and a security concern, most recently adding he dislikes the idea of an outdoor arena because it could expose fighters to heat, rain or bugs. Other Trump critics have said the event shows Trump’s priorities are not aligned with those of everyday Americans. “Thank god they are focused on the priorities of all Americans,” wrote California Gov. Gavin Newsom after the White House announced the fight. Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic Party, made similar criticisms: “Donald Trump has billions for his golden ballroom, a brand new UFC arena outside the White House, his MAGA criminal allies, and his war with Iran. He has nothing for healthcare.” John Dichtl, president of the American Association for State and Local History, questioned the fight’s billing as a celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary: “What does a (UFC) fight have to do with America’s greatness?”
