The Ultimate Fighting Championship cage matches set to take place on the White House South Lawn on Sunday will go on as scheduled, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta denied an emergency petition from two Virginia plaintiffs to stop the fight until the court litigates allegations that the Trump administration illegally allowed the Las Vegas-based sports promotion company to build its towering structure, called “The Claw,” on the White House grounds, and use the Ellipse and Lincoln Memorial for related events.
UFC began constructing the 92-foot-tall, 154-foot-wide steel staging area on May 26, and corporate organizers were placing the final touches on the temporary 4,300-seat structure this week.
According to government court filings, organizers expect up to 120,000 guests to watch the fights on large screens on the Ellipse in addition to the guests under “The Claw.”
In all, organizers have spent $60 million on preparation for the event, which is part of the Donald Trump administration-organized “Freedom 250” celebration — separate and apart from the bipartisan “America250” governed by a congressional commission — to mark the country’s 250th anniversary.
In a 15-page order, Mehta wrote that the plaintiffs’ “unreasonable delay in filing suit, though not dispositive, undercuts their claims of irreparable harm.”
“The public has known that the White House would be hosting a UFC fight event since President Trump first announced it in July 2025. Equipment and materials for the event began arriving at the White House around May 20, 2026, … and construction of the Claw began six days later. Plaintiffs, however, waited until June 7, 2026 — more than two weeks after visible preparations commenced at the White House — to seek emergency relief,” according to the order.
Additionally, Mehta wrote that the plaintiffs’ claims of harm — aesthetic and First Amendment — are not irreparable because they are “decidedly temporary.”
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle praised the ruling.
“The court rightly rejected an untimely and frivolous effort to halt the historic UFC event hosted to honor the 250th anniversary of our Nation. The White House is thankful for this correct decision and looks forward to hosting this once-in-a-lifetime celebration on the South Lawn,” Ingle said in a written statement to States Newsroom.
Brendan Ballou, founder of the Public Integrity Project, an anti-corruption legal advocacy organization that represented the plaintiffs, said the decision wasn’t the one they wanted.
“This isn’t a case about a sporting event, it’s about corruption, as a handful of people and companies stand to profit from our public monuments. While we’re disappointed in this decision, we of course respect it, and we’ll keep bringing cases to raise the cost of corruption in America,” Ballou said in a written statement to States Newsroom.
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