With the White House card less than one month away, Dana White is bugging out – in a literal sense.
A longtime hater of outdoor events, White has made an exception for UFC Freedom 250 on June 14 on the South Lawn of the White House.
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While his team has spent substantial time configuring logistics that include a giant lighting rig nicknamed “the claw,” White recently encountered a more unexpected issue – or thousands of them – when visiting the White House.
“Another problem that I always think about, especially on the East coast: bugs,” White told Boardroom. “So President Trump just opened The Rose Garden two nights ago. He invited me to dinner there. The amount of gnats that are flying around, I’m like, ‘Holy sh*t.’ As soon as I got on the plane, I got on the phone with my head of production and said, ‘Yeah, let me tell you about the gnat situation tonight.’ When you’re a fighter, think about that lighting grid and the claw we’re going to have (and) the amount of power in the lights. Moths, gnats, and God knows what else, fighters trying to deal with that.”
It’s unclear what solution, if any, White and the UFC will attempt. White said he immediately phoned UFC executive producer Craig Borsari to initiate the process of figuring it out.
“In your mouth, in your nose while you’re trying to fight. I was telling Craig, my head of production, I’m like, ‘Maybe we put fans in, because gnats have a bad time in the wind,'” White said. “I don’t know. These are all the little details we have to think about. That’s why I don’t like fighting outside ever.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dana White bugging out over unexpected UFC White House challenge
