Details about the White House’s first-ever UFC fight are emerging, as organizers grapple with logistical and security issues for the historic event in Washington, D.C.
Michael Chandler, one of several fighters headlining the June 14 event on the White House’s South Lawn, said Monday that top UFC brass are “still trying to figure things out.”
“Obviously, when you think about throwing in one new type of event, which the UFC loves to do, a type of fight that has never happened before … now, you couple it with the extra layers of the added security of actually fighting on the White House lawn, the logistics are going to be a lot,” Chandler said during a Fox News interview.
“I think there’s going to be kind of a living, breathing, trying to figure out how this event is going to be laid out over the next 13 weeks,” he added.
Trump confirmed last week he would attend the event, which falls on his 80th birthday, in person. UFC CEO Dana White announced last Thursday that organizers will hand out 85,000 free tickets to the public. The fight is set to mark 250 years of U.S. independence, and is one of many events by Freedom 250, the Trump-created task force spearheading efforts to celebrate the milestone.
“Security is going to be a massive issue, because at the end of the day, the Secret Service’s job is to protect the president,” White told The Herd last September.
The sprawling event could become the largest UFC-related gathering in the company’s history. The number of people on the lawn itself will be limited to around 5,000. Other fans will be able to watch the fights on large screens set up throughout The Ellipse, and the UFC plans to host concerts, music performances, and other fan activities throughout the day to create a full fight-week festival.
“There’s a park that’s connected to the White House,” White said. “We could put 85,000 people over there with screens, and we’re going to put a big stage out there, do concerts. … We’re going to take over Washington, D.C., that whole week.”
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Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje are set to face off in the lightweight division. Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane are set to contend for the interim heavyweight championship.
Four other fights will round out the White House event, including a bantamweight bout between Sean O’Malley and Aiemann Zahabi, a lightweight bout between Mauricio Ruffy and Chandler, a middleweight bout between Bo Nickal and Kyle Daukaus, and a featherweight bout between Diego Lopes and Steve Garcia.
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