The UFC is taking its show to one of the most high-profile backdrops in the world, staging an outdoor card on the White House lawn and the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., on June 14th.
The event will feature Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje and Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane, with 4,300 people watching from the White House lawn and approximately 85,000 more viewing from the Ellipse, also known as President’s Park South. Tickets for the Ellipse viewing are free but require registration.
“The Ellipse is a massive park, you’ll be able to see the fight from the Ellipse,” Dana White said, adding, “But we have screens, we got stages, we have music, we have activations over there. If you are a fan of the UFC, and especially if you have never been to Washington, D.C., we’re going to give away about 85,000 tickets. And there’s a process. You have to register for tickets, and they’re free.”
White encouraged fans to make the trip: “But you should come to Washington, D.C. that week, the week of the fight. We’re going to be doing all kinds of things, you know, in D.C. for fans. And it’s really a cool city for probably most people have never been. And if you’re a UFC fan, this is absolutely positively the time to come to D.C.”
The card will proceed rain or shine, but may shift by a few hours if lightning is forecast. “We’re working with the military,” White said. “So the military knows the weather 10 days out, and they’ll notify us every two hours, 10 days out. Seven days out, they’ll notify us every hour. We also, there’s another company that does it for concerts and things like that. They’re very good too. So what could happen is the only thing that kills us is lightning. So we could move the event two hours earlier, two hours after, you know.”
“So these are all things that we’ll be playing with the week of the event, on top of all the other things that we’ll have going on, which we never had to deal with. The only time I’d ever agreed to do an outdoor event was in Abu Dhabi, which I could be the weatherman in Abu Dhabi, and I would be right every time.”
