UFC Freedom 250 live updates: Predictions, analysis and more from the White House – NBC News
NBC News is live from the South Lawn for one of the most unique sporting events in history.
The South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Sunday. Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images
The UFC is hosting a fight card on the White House’s South Lawn tonight. Yes, you read that correctly.
The fights were delayed due to weather in the area. The card features seven fights, including a main event lightweight title bout between champion Ilia Topuria and interim champion Justin Gaethje.
Watching just feet away will be President Trump, members of his administration, VIPs and thousands of active military members. NBC News is live in Washington D.C. to cover all the action from one of the most unique sporting events ever.
The first fight has begun. The crowd is already oohing and ahhing as the fighters trade blows.
The first fight of the night is about to begin, between Steve Garcia (19-5) of the U.S. and Diego Lopes (27-8) of Brazil. Bruce Buffer, the iconic fight announcer, is calling out the fighters to the audience.
The camera zoomed in on two uniformed military members who then parted and made space for Garcia to emerge from the White House. He had an American flag over his shoulders and was flanked by more uniformed military personnel, as he walked to the Octagon.
The crowd had a tepid reaction to Garcia, judging by what we saw on the telecast. After a delayed start, the first match of the night appears to be moments away.
Garcia, 34, is one of the hottest fighters in the sport right now, having won seven straight bouts that dates back to October 2022. Training out of the legendary JacksonWink gym in Albuquerque, N.M., Garcia has 19 wins with 15 coming via knockout. It happened in his most recent fight, a first-round TKO against David Onama in November.
He faces another tough veteran fighter in the 31-year-old Lopes (27-8). Though he’s lost two of his last three bouts, they have come against much stiffer competition than Garcia — both came to future UFC Hall of Famer and former champion Alexander Volkanovski. Garcia shouldn’t take him lightly as he has explosive power. Just watch what he did to Jean Silva last September.
There will be 14 fighters — eight Americans — on the card for seven fights beginning at 9 p.m. ET on Paramount Plus. In the main event, Georgian lightweight champion Ilia Topuria faces interim champion Justin Gaethje.
An Arizona native who trains out of Denver, Gaethje said he could not pass up this opportunity.
“We get to have an amazing event and celebrate the 250-year anniversary of our independence,” he told NBC News. “I know for a fact we were bigger underdogs than I am now, 250 years ago, and we’re still thriving today. So I’m trying to follow that lead and keep the same precedent going.”
UFC fighter Justin Gaethje looks on during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on May 06, 2026 in Washington, D.C. Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images file
The broadcast said that closed captioning for the event was brought to us by “TrumpCoins.com.” The announcer added: “Limited quantities available now.”
With President Trump and Dana White watching from the White House’s south portico, the Zac Brown Band sang the national anthem. As the final bars were sung, a formation of fighter jets from the Navy’s Blue Angels and Air Force’s Thunderbirds flew overhead to the delight of White, who smiled broadly as Trump saluted.
Afterward, a smattering of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” chants broke out.
The president walked alongside the UFC promoter to begin the pre-match show. Dana White smiled throughout the walk, while Trump wore a more stoic expression.
Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images
White stumped for Trump at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, saying he “will always be grateful, so grateful to him for standing with us in those early days. So tonight I stand with Donald Trump.”
He also delivered remarks in support of Trump at the 2020 and 2024 RNC conventions and spoke after Trump’s election-night victory, calling his friend “the most resilient, hardworking man I’ve ever met in my life.”
White told The New Yorker last month that his speeches are not political and only praise for someone whom he’s known for more than two decades. Despite the optics, he described himself as a center-left Democrat. But his public words for Trump have helped the Republican gain ground with young men, a group that makes up a large percentage of UFC viewers.
Since his first term, Trump has attended seven UFC fight cards.
The broadcast introduction included shots of Washington, D.C. monuments and a monologue narrated by the actor Ron Perlman. When the pre-show started, the commentators were seated in the Green Room of the White House, another surreal detail on a day full of them.
The fights are scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET. The whole schedule was delayed due to weather in the area. The top left corner of the screen reads “RAIN DELAY.”
There’s plenty of fanfare and controversy surrounding the UFC Freedom 250 match set for today at the White House. NBC News’ Gary Grumbach takes a look at Trump’s ties to the UFC, along with a long line of presidents who also enjoyed a good fight.
“The Claw,” a giant metal structure above the cage, is another sight never before seen on the White House grounds. Created by Stageco, a Belgian event staging company, it was shipped internationally to the rural Pennsylvania headquarters of UFC partner TAIT Towers. There, it was first assembled and modified — to the chagrin of nearby residents.
“Building in an empty parking lot certainly caught the attention of the neighborhood,” UFC executive producer Craig Borsari said.
Anne Lebreton / AFP via Getty Images
To understand how we got here, it’s important to understand how the UFC came to be. White, along with casino and resort executive brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, bought the nearly bankrupt fight promotion for only $2 million in January 2001. At the time, mixed martial arts was so controversial that then-Sen. John McCain famously called it “human cockfighting” and threatened to put it out of business.
President Donald Trump and UFC President and CEO Dana White in Miami, last year. Jeff Bottari / Zuffa LLC
Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, most states did not even regulate the sport. As a result, few venues were available for White to host fight cards. He turned to a casino owner named Donald Trump.
Less than two months after White acquired the UFC, it hosted its first two events at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. And thus was born the decadeslong friendship between a sports tycoon and the man who would become U.S. president.
When White needed help the most, Trump stepped in. As Trump began his career in politics, the favor was returned, and then some.
At the UFC Freedom 250 fan event, a weather alert message was just shown on two giant screens: “PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER IN THE AREA. BE PREPARED TO LEAVE THE EVENT AND SEEK APPROPRIATE SHELTER.”
Kevin Dietsch / Bloomberg via Getty Images
The UFC posted a photo the “locker room” for tonight’s fighters. This is the historic Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, frequently used for ceremonial purposes, including swearing ins of Supreme Court justices, cabinet officials, and formal receptions.
Hooverball Game on White House Lawn in 1933. National Archives
The UFC matches to be held on the lawn of the White House on President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday are sure to be a spectacle unseen in the history of the storied complex.
An event like UFC Freedom 250 is a first for the South Lawn, but sports, even exhibition matches, are not a totally foreign concept at the White House, although it was more modest.
President Warren G. Harding and his wife invited tennis champions from the U.S. and abroad for a tournament, and Jimmy Carter was known for vigorous jogs. George H.W. Bush played horseshoes, including showing off for Queen Elizabeth II, and Dwight D. Eisenhower built a putting green on the South Lawn. Barack Obama expanded the White House tennis courts to allow an alternate use of full-court basketball.
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When UFC executive producer Craig Borsari first heard that the company was going to host a mixed martial arts event at the White House, he thought his boss was joking.
“It wasn’t until a few days later when [Dana White] came into my office and said, ‘Hey, we have a call about that event at the White House,’ and I found out very quickly that it was real,” Borsari told NBC News about the fight card on the South Lawn.
On Sunday night, President Donald Trump, members of his Cabinet, hundreds of Trump allies and thousands of members of the military — as long as they pass a fitness test — will be steps away from the Oval Office as 14 of the world’s best UFC fighters descend on the grounds for a night of bouts.
The Defense Department is requiring members of the military to meet a certain body type criteria in order to attend the big Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the White House next month, according to two people familiar with the criteria and a Pentagon memo outlining the criteria that was reviewed by NBC News.
The memo, which was issued to branches of the military this week, states that service members who receive tickets to the big fighting event on the South Lawn must meet a waist-to-height ratio of less than 0.55, “as well as all service-specific physical fitness test requirements.”
Uniformed troops from commands around the world are eligible to request tickets, but the Pentagon will not cover their travel costs, according to the memo, which describes the fight as a “high visibility” event at on the White House South Lawn.
Per UFC PR, the broadcast will start at 8 p.m. and fights at 9 p.m., moving the schedule back an hour due to weather. As a reminder, the event is being held outdoors, though a large, open-air canopy was placed over the UFC octagon.
Chris Unger / Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The U.S. Speaker of the House is now here. I’m told VP JD Vance has also arrived.
Overwhelmingly, the thousands of people here on the Ellipse for the UFC Freedom 250 fight are here because they’re huge UFC fans. They’re walking around with replica championship belts, and shirts with their favorite fighter on it. They’re sitting in the 90 degree Washington heat for hours. But it’s not to see Donald Trump.
Rey Del Rio / Zuffa LLC via Getty
For them, this isn’t about politics. It’s about watching a UFC fight in what they’ve told me they think is a “really cool” location. Is there a smattering of “Make America Great Again” hats, and Donald Trump apparel? Sure. But that’s not the focus of many of the attendees.
More than 30 years after UFC began, Grant Gibney of Illinois told me, “They’re fighting at the White House on the White House lawn. It’s incredible, despite all the politics.”
The President’s son sent out an aerial-view video of the upcoming event.
Thunderstorms and high winds may be rolling into D.C. as tonight’s fight kicks off. Residents attending outside events were advised by the city’s alert system to monitor weather conditions and seek shelter if lightning or strong winds develop.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Any norm and presumption of etiquette you thought existed within the hallowed White House grounds, consider it shattered this weekend.
Walking around the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, it was as if you entered a festival taking place anywhere around the country.
But look past the Monster Energy-branded main stage and you’ll see in the distance — past the motocross bikes doing jumps and flips-off of a ramp, and past the 600-ton, 92-foot “Claw” — there’s the Truman Balcony of the White House, where tonight UFC fighters will step in before heading down toward the South Lawn Octagon to fight until someone is knocked out.
Natalie Keyssar for NBC News
According to Craig Borsari, UFC executive producer, the U.S. President has been “involved at a high level.”
“I mean, he’s been part of multiple conversations about the way we would pull off the event and some of the infrastructure that we’d be putting on the South Lawn, as well as on the Ellipse. … He certainly has input and comments.”
President Donald Trump attends UFC 314 on April 12, 2025, in Miami. Miami Herald / Tribune News Service via Getty Images
More than 4,000 people will attend the fights on the South Lawn. About one-third of those tickets are going to active military personnel, while the White House and president have another third, and the UFC and its parent company TKO have a bit less than a third to distribute.
Approximately 115,000 fans, however, are set to watch on screens from across the street at the Ellipse, a 52-acre park just south of the White House, the UFC said.
There’s also a chance of rain in the area, something Craig Borsari, UFC executive producer, has been monitoring for weeks. The UFC has a meteorologist on site giving live updates so the promotion can plan properly.
Borsari said the only way fights won’t happen is if there is lightning within an 8-mile radius or if wind gusts exceed 35 mph. All of this is why the UFC has only hosted one card in history outdoors (Abu Dhabi in April 2010).
Greg Rosenstein is the sports editor for NBC News Digital.
Andrew Greif is a sports reporter for NBC News Digital.
