The historic UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House in Washington, D.C. has come and gone. Yet even after a nearly perfect night, UFC CEO Dana White hasn’t changed his mind on hosting MMA fights outdoors.
In order to stage Sunday’s event, the UFC had to build a unique setup on the doorstep of the White House, constructing its “Claw” overhang rig and a customized bleacher arena atop the South Lawn. That gave UFC Freedom 250 the distinction of being only the second open-air UFC show in promotional history, after UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi in 2010.
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White has always been vehemently against the concept, and despite Sunday’s success, the show was still slightly delayed upon its start due to approaching thunderstorms in Washington, D.C. And for White, the drama was enough validate his old concerns.
“No, sir,” White said bluntly at UFC Freedom 250’s post-fight press conference when asked about considering more outdoor events in the future. “I don’t ever want to be f***ing outside ever again. There’s just too much leading up to the fight you just have to sweat. Unless you’re in, like, Abu Dhabi, when we did it before — I could be the weatherman in Abu Dhabi and I’d be right all the time.”
The UFC boss then opened the floor to Sunday’s winning fighters for their opinions.
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“The breeze was really nice,” responded new UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje.
“I loved it. Awesome,” echoed middleweight contender Bo Nickal.
“You liked it? Everybody liked it?” White responded. “Still no.”
“When you’re doing events like we do, there’s enough things you have to worry about,” he added. “What I always try to do is create the best experience possible for the fans. And if we have to worry about weather and all the things that come along with being outside, I just don’t like it.”
The logistics of UFC Freedom 250 were enough for White to steer away from the idea of making White House fights an annual event, however he revealed that a throwback idea from UFC’s past has already been kicked around between him and U.S. President Donald Trump.
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“The president and I are talking about doing a fight for the troops next year,” White said. “So, obviously, if you did a fight for the troops, you’d do all that kind of [extra production elements] stuff [for the broadcast]. We did a lot of them in the past.
“It’s not easy to get things done on military bases and things like that, but … obviously the president can make a lot of things happen, so we’re talking about doing it next year.
“He wanted to do it this year,” White continued, “and I said, ‘Sir, I need a year to recover financially from the White House fights, so give me a year.'”
UFC has hosted three “Fight for the Troops” Fight Night events throughout its history. The last took place in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and was headlined by Tim Kennedy vs. Rafael Natal in November 2013.
