![\"UFC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-06-13T024758Z_1506022352_MT1USATODAY29186830_RTRMADP_3_MMA-UFC-FREEDOM-250-PRESS-CONFERENCE-sca.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nWASHINGTON \u2014 UFC CEO Dana White has had his fill of outdoor events, saying Friday night he has no plans to host fights outside of arenas in the near future, even as he insisted that his signature Freedom 250 card at the White House would go on as planned Sunday despite threats of lousy weather.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sick and tired of hearing about the weather now and all the other bulls\u2014 surrounding this event,\u201d White said at the base of the Lincoln Memorial, bringing his usual brash style to the first UFC spectacle in front of fans in this most unusual setting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like arenas where we don\u2019t have to worry about the elements \u2026 I\u2019m not looking to go outside anymore, we\u2019ll just do some arenas for the rest of the year,\u201d he said toward the end of a news conference that was delayed by an hour because of lightning \u2014 a reminder of the ominous uncertainty ahead of the fights on the South Lawn of the White House.<\/p>\n
The fights, set for the night of President Donald Trump\u2019s 80th birthday, are billed as part of a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. For fighters and fans, they are likely to be hot, humid and potentially wet.<\/p>\n
\u201cListen, the show goes on on Sunday no matter what happens; we\u2019re going,\u201d White said Friday.<\/p>\n
Much of the UFC, of course, follows White\u2019s decisions. But because the UFC normally stages its fights indoors, it is unclear whether it has set guidelines for how to handle thunderstorms that could become dangerous for athletes and spectators.<\/p>\n
Craig Borsari, UFC\u2019s chief content officer, said this week that the company\u2019s production team is prepared for any scenario they encounter Sunday. None of those options include moving the event indoors, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a few options,\u201d Borsari said. \u201cOne is to stay on air, and we do have contingency planning where we can remain and continue to broadcast from a location close by the South Lawn, and if we feel like a weather pattern\u2019s coming in that will pass through and we can resume, we will. So we would not leave the broadcast, we would just fill.\u201d<\/p>\n
The plan is to begin tearing down the $60 million production starting promptly Monday morning, according to federal court filings in an advocacy group\u2019s failed attempt to stop the fights this week. A judge Friday declined to grant a temporary restraining order, formally ending the last-ditch attempt to stop the bouts.<\/p>\n
Even without the prospect of rain and lightning, weather is certain to be a factor in these fights. Conditions in Washington this week have been hot and humid, with temperatures in the high 90s, brief downpours and sweaty, stifling air. That has been true even in the evenings \u2014 at 8 p.m. ET Friday, as dozens of reporters waited in a hotel lobby for thunderstorms to pass, it was about 84 degrees.<\/p>\n
Borsari said Wednesday the promotion is using a custom canvas for the mat to help minimize temperatures in the cage, but the humidity will affect performances. Grappling becomes far more difficult when fighters are covered in sweat, and it could favor certain fighters over others on Sunday.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Dana White says he\u2019s not looking to have any more outdoor UFC events after Sunday\u2019s showcase at the White House. \u201cWe\u2019ll just do some arenas for the rest of the year,\u201d he said. (Amber Searls \/ IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)<\/p>\n
Justin Gaethje, who will be fighting for the lightweight title in the main event Sunday, said Wednesday that he has been training for the heat for months by elevating his body temperature in saunas before workouts. Sean O\u2019Malley told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the humidity will pose a unique challenge: \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.\u201d<\/p>\n
White has frequently expressed his reluctance to host events outdoors due to the numerous variables created by the lack of enclosures. But White and company couldn\u2019t refuse an offer from Trump to produce a professional sporting event on White House grounds.<\/p>\n
Clearly, White and the UFC wanted the visual of a Lincoln Memorial news conference, too, even as most of the other elements of the event carried forth with typical prefight bravado.<\/p>\n
The delay pushed the start of the news conference to a less-than-ideal time, past the beginning of the World Cup debut of the U.S. men\u2019s team against Paraguay. And as White and the 14 fighters spoke and traded verbal barbs, the area was under a severe thunderstorm watch from the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 UFC CEO Dana White has had his fill of outdoor events, saying Friday night he has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,10280,785,85,3276],"class_list":["post-733397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mixed-martial-arts","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733397","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=733397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}