Two major UFC figures raised concerns about the wisdom of holding a cage fight on the White House lawn this summer, after President Donald Trump set the idea into motion.
UFC CEO Dana White, a close friend of Trump’s who has been tasked with overseeing the June 14 match, has heralded the event as an historic opportunity to bring the public together in celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary this year. Still, he conceded this week that he has reservations about holding the UFC fight outdoors, due to environmental factors that could throw organizers for a loop. A giant iron stage is now being constructed outside the White House, allowing the public to see the venue being built in real time.
“There’s two things I hate,” White said during an NPR Newsmakers episode. “I hate stadiums, and I hate even worse than a stadium is fighting outside. There’s just so many different variables you have to deal with, you know, the weather, and you know the worst, obviously, being rain and lightning, yeah, and then bugs, and you know temperatures.”
Popular podcast host Joe Rogan was more blunt, airing his concerns about the event on Wednesday’s episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Rogan is friendly with White and Trump and has been affiliated with UFC for years, serving as a commentator.
“I don’t like the idea of fighting outside at all,” Rogan said, raising fears about likely triple-digit temperatures in Washington, D.C., as well as bugs, pesticides, and dehydration for fighters and fans. “That’s hot as f***.”
“Imagine if someone loses a fight because it’s too hot out,” he warned. “Imagine if that becomes a factor. Imagine the dehydrated fighters, like the dehydrated fighters that are now being forced 24 hours later to fight in 100-degree heat outside.”
Rogan said the least organizers could do is “build a f***ing roof” over the venue, which is under construction on the White House property. Construction on the massive “claw” stage started Monday. Several UFC stars are set to take the stage and participate in the “once in a lifetime” event, including Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje in the lightweight title bout and Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight interim title.
“I just don’t think that you should compete in a world championship fight in a non-controlled environment. I think it should be inside an air-conditioned arena,” he said. “It should be a controlled environment, just like you wouldn’t ask them to play a world championship basketball game outside in the sun. That would be crazy. You have to, you play in a f***ing air-conditioned arena, and that’s how it should be.”
The UFC fight is being spearheaded by Freedom 250, the organization Trump created to celebrate the semiquincentennial. The fight will be held on Trump’s 80th birthday, as the president has long expressed a firm love for cage fights, even attending UFC 327 in Miami in April, where he spoke with both Rogan and White.
White said this week that he thinks the world of fighting represents Trump’s view of the world.
“I think fighting, I think sports does,” the UFC CEO said. “I think the will to win, the will to overcome, the will to, you know, he has every ounce of that, plus some, even at 80 years old … Trump is one of the toughest, most resilient human beings that I’ve ever met in my life. The most. I don’t know anybody, and I’ve been in the fight business since I was 19 years old.”
White also detailed his strategy behind the UFC line-up, which features a seven-fight card. Aside from the lightweight championship and interim heavyweight championship events, there will be an assortment of matchups with Sean O’Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi, Michael Chandler vs. Mauricio Ruffy, Kyle Daukaus vs. Bo Nickal, Steve Garcia vs. Diego Lopes, and Josh Hokit vs. Derrick Lewis.
TRUMP GIVES FIRST LOOK AT UFC 250 ARENA PLANNED FOR WHITE HOUSE LAWN
White said he wanted the line-up to reflect the country’s diversity, in honor of the 250th anniversary.
“We’re celebrating America’s 250th birthday on the lawn of the White House, and you know there possibly couldn’t be a greater honor than that,” he said. “For me, as an American, I think that everybody thought that I was going to build a card, America versus the world, where we did the exact opposite. America is the country of immigrants that all came from somewhere else, and they’re all going to be represented. I tried hard to have a Chinese fighter on the card too, but it didn’t work out.