WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 The bugs may be a distraction and draw much of the attention.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s the humidity that may be the real issue for fighters on the UFC Freedom 250 card at the White House on Sunday night as the organization puts on an outdoor event for the first time.<\/p>\n
UFC President and CEO Dana White has long resisted putting on fights outside because of all the potential variables involved, but the opportunity to build a temporary venue on the famed south lawn outweighed the logistical hurdles.<\/p>\n
White has said his biggest concern with this particular location are rain, lighting and bugs, the third of which was reinforced during a recent function at the Rose Garden where he encountered swarms of gnats.<\/p>\n
The thought of high-level professional athletes trying to dodge flying insects while also trying not to get punched or choked out certainly adds a level of intrigue to an already captivating event.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen there\u2019s so much danger in front of you in a fight already, none of that matters,\u201d said Justin Gaethje, who will fight Ilia Topuria for the lightweight title in the main event. \u201cThe humidity is going to be the only thing that\u2019s a real factor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gaethje did his best to prepare for fighting in what could be stifling conditions even deep into the evening.<\/p>\n
He broke down atmospheric conditions at the White House for this time of year over the past five decades and tried his best to simulate the environment during training.<\/p>\n
\u201cI put myself in the sauna before my workouts so I can work out with my body heat elevated,\u201d he said at Wednesday\u2019s media day at the JW Marriott across from the White House. \u201cOr I go in the sauna mid-workout and really peak my temperature so that I have to perform in that atmosphere. All I can do is try to replicate the conditions I\u2019m going to be in. But I have been here the last few days and gone out around the time I\u2019m going to fight and it\u2019s been nice. Nothing compared to the sauna.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aiemann Zahabi, who will fight Sean O\u2019Malley in a featured bantamweight bout, has been unknowingly preparing for this moment his entire career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first year we\u2019ve had air conditioning in our gym, which is a nice little plus,\u201d he quipped. \u201cAnd it\u2019s just as humid, if not more so, in Montreal. I\u2019ve never had a summer without humidity in the gym so I\u2019ve been ready for this. I came out May 31st and I\u2019ve been training outside every evening. I\u2019ve noticed it gets more humid in the evening and I\u2019ve been getting used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Malley actually believes it will play a physiological factor.<\/p>\n
\u201cHumidity is a real thing,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will get your heart rate higher than it typically would be inside an air-conditioned environment and as a fighter, your goal is to keep your heart rate low. That\u2019s the biggest thing. The bugs would not be fun, but you\u2019re also in such a different mindset and a different world when you\u2019re inside the octagon that I\u2019m not going to get too worried about it. Maybe if there\u2019s thousands of mosquitos it would be a problem. But I think it\u2019s going to be a beautiful day and it\u2019s going to play out perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the hope for the UFC, which has spent more than $60 million on the event and has developed a multitude of contingency plans for anything that could potentially go wrong. Right now, that includes the possibility of rain. The organization is working full-time this week with a meteorologist and have the potential to move around the schedule from a planned 8 p.m. EDT start time to avoid precipitation, though that could open the potential for even warmer temperatures earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all part of why White has always been so opposed to such events. This opportunity was just too massive to pass up.<\/p>\n
Michael Chandler, who will fight Mauricio Ruffy in a lightweight bout, sees a potential advantage in the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI train down in hot, humid, bug-filled South Florida,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve trained outside a bit, hit some pads outside and moved around outside. But I\u2019m not going to sit here and say I\u2019ve done a whole lot of training outside for this. I\u2019ve done nothing but compete since I was 14 years old. I\u2019ve fought in the best of conditions and the worst of conditions. The loudest of conditions and the quietest of conditions. I\u2019ve fought injured. I\u2019ve fought sick. I\u2019ve done it all. More than anything, if I say I\u2019m stacking myself up against and opponent and you add these extra variables, I like my chances 10 times out of 10 of handling it better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even if that means a wild scenario like a bug flying in his eye during the fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to sit here and say I\u2019m not going to notice it,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll blink a couple times and hope it buzzes off. But you suck in one to your nose? Who knows? But I like my chances with a bug in my eye better than my opponent. I like my chances with a bug in my lungs better than my opponent.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I certainly like my chances 100 degrees and humid better than my opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n
He will get a chance to put that confidence to the test on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com.<\/a> Follow @AdamHillLVRJ<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 The bugs may be a distraction and draw much of the attention. But it\u2019s the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-729013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}