The UFC is preparing to go through with the upcoming event on the White House lawn no matter what the weather throws at it – with one exception.
UFC Freedom 250 is set to take place June 14 on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. It will be an extremely rare outdoor event, just the second in promotion history, taking place on president Donald Trump’s birthday. It was the president who randomly came up with the idea for the event, and the promotion decided to make it a reality, even if it meant deviating from typical business practices by hosting an outdoor event with no ticket sales. The event is expected not to turn a profit.
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More details about how the event will actually look will be revealed Saturday during UFC 327, according to UFC CEO Dana White.
“This fight this Saturday will be the first look, people will see what the South Lawn is going to look like on the fight on Paramount this weekend,” White said during a live stream with Adin Ross. “We have a spot for it, and it will actually show the setup of the South Lawn.”
The event features two title fights: Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje for the lightweight title unification in the main event and Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title in the co-feature. In total, there are just six fights, another deviation from a typical UFC event, which typically features more than double that number.
One of the biggest concerns about hosting an MMA event outdoors is the weather. White says the promotion is willing to push through no matter what comes their way, unless lightning comes into play.
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“(If it rains) we’re fighting,” White said. “If it f*cking snows, we’re fighting. The only thing – nothing will stop this show going that night. It can f*cking rain – (except) lightning. Lighting is the only thing. We’d have to wait it out. We’d have to wait the lightning out and then do the fight.
“This is why I don’t like doing things outside. Rain would suck. Heavy winds will suck. If it’s muggy and bugs. All this kind of sh*t is the stuff you have to deal with when you do it outside, but we’re going through all of it. Any of those things happen, it doesn’t matter, we’re still going. If it f*cking snows, we’re going. Lightning is the only thing that would really screw us.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dana White: Bad weather won’t stop UFC Freedom 250 at White House
