First look at Dana White’s $60million UFC White House arena as ‘custom cover’ is created to battle summer heat

The stage is set for the UFC’s historic show at the White House this Sunday.

There will be 14 fighters to make the walk to the UFC Octagon staged directly on the South Lawn of the White House to celebrate 250 years of American independence.

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Officially billed as UFC Freedom 250, the promotion — according to Mark Shapiro, chief of the UFC’s parent company TKO Group Holdings — has spent around $60million to create the one-of-a-kind spectacle.

Provided a federal lawsuit and harsh weather conditions don’t derail the event on US President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday, lightweight champion Ilia Topuria will put his belt on the line for the first time against Justin Gaethje in the main event.

That comes after two-division champion Alex Pereira steps up for his inaugural heavyweight fight to take on Ciryl Gane for the division’s interim title, with undisputed king Tom Aspinall waiting to face the winner.

The fights will go down in a never-before-seen environment, and excitement among MMA fans is at an all-time high.

A closer look inside UFC White House

Members of the media were invited to the South Lawn on Thursday morning to get a first look at the Octagon setup ahead of fight night.

A little over 4,000 spectators are expected to be cageside for the fights, with around 85,000 fans watching from big screens at the nearby Ellipse park as part of a two-day fan festival weekend.

According to NBC, construction of the UFC White House ‘claw’ began on May 20, and the Secret Service screened between 20 and 30 trucks and 700-900 staff members to enter and exit daily.

Images and videos have emerged throughout Friday showing the whopping scale of the arena for UFC White House, and it is truly amazing.

At this stage, the only factor that could disrupt proceedings is the weather.

The White House called the aforementioned lawsuit a ‘baseless’ attempt to ‘prevent President Trump from hosting what will undoubtedly go down as one of the most historic sporting events in our Nation’s history during our semiquincentennial celebration’ in a statement to The Independent.

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UFC CEO Dana White has noted bugs could prove a hindrance throughout the weekend, having been swarmed by black flies at a Rose Garden dinner last month.

How will the UFC handle bad weather?

But Craig Borsari, the UFC’s chief content officer and main producer of the White House, has addressed safety precautions and how his team will handle any weather delays.

“We are now at a period of time where weather can get fairly predictable,” Borsari said at the UFC White House media day on Wednesday.

“When you’re 7-10 days out, you get a general sense of what’s ahead of you.

“Now, starting with Friday, we have a pretty good idea of what we might be facing.

“So I’m not checking weather apps, I’m getting reports from our meteorologist, who’s on site, and now he’s at a point where he’s giving us hourly updates of what the weather looks like.”

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Custom canvas cover to protect from heat

Borsari continued: “We have a custom cover for the canvas, so that’s going to protect us from any increased heat.

“Part of the reason why we picked an 8pm start time was so that we could get some of the intense direct sunlight off of the canvas, so we feel confident that the heat of the canvas, we have plans to mitigate that.

“Moisture, precipitation, wind, those are other things that we’re planning for…

“We’ll keep [the canvas] covered, we’ll keep it cool, there also is a canopy overhead, which you’ve probably seen on this claw structure, but there’s a 100ft canopy or tarp over that that also provides a lot of shade and reduces the heat quite a bit.”

Borsari said that his team will ‘try to push forward’ through light to moderate rain with no lightning.

He added that some of the VIPs in attendance, especially those in the back rows, will likely get wet should it rain.

UFC Schedule

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He remarked: “To be honest, [the canopy is] so high up that if we’ve got a bit of a breeze, the rain will start to creep inside that 100ft diameter.”

Should the weather pose a severe problem for the fights taking place, Borsari’s team have plans to keep the broadcast going through any periods of no action.

The producer also stated the UFC ‘never contemplated’ changing venues when these issues came about.