During a tour of the UFC Performance Institute for Entertainment Tonight, Dana White fielded questions about UFC Freedom 250, scheduled for June 14th on the South Lawn of the White House.
The event has drawn scrutiny over its timing: June 14th also happens to be Donald Trump’s birthday, raising questions about whether the card is more of a political occasion than a patriotic one. White addressed those concerns directly.
“It’s definitely not a political event,” White said. “You can be far left, far right, or right down the middle. This is the 250th birthday of America. We’re going to tell the story and the history of America. Most of the people of the 4,000 that will be there will be military from every branch. It’s Americans coming together and celebrating the history and the birthday of America.”
White also outlined the scale of the planned festivities, emphasizing that the celebration is intended to reach far beyond the limited seating available on the South Lawn itself.
“We could end up having 85,000 people over at the Ellipse,” he stated. “We already have over 70,000 people that have registered to get a ticket and the tickets are free, but you still have to go through like a lottery system to get it. There’s going to be over 100,000 people that will cycle through everything that we’re doing that week in DC.”
Discussing the overwhelming demand for access, White said the response has been unprecedented, even by the president’s standards.
“A lot of people have called me and according to the president, he said in everything that he’s ever done as far as putting out events in his life, he’s never had more requests for tickets than this,” White noted.
White also addressed a notable departure from standard UFC practice: the inclusion of the national anthem. He explained that the promotion has historically avoided playing anthems because of its global audience and the logistical complications that can come with international matchups.
“One of the things that drives me crazy with boxing is they got to sing two national anthems and all this stuff before the match starts,” he said. “We’re an international business. We have people from everywhere. We could end up singing two national anthems that are not even from this country, and plus the whole world is watching us. We’re in over a billion homes worldwide. So I don’t do it. This will be the first time in a very long time, since UFC double digits, that we’ve done the national anthem, and Zac Brown will be doing it.”
He concluded with a confident promise about the experience awaiting attendees.
“It is the most exciting live sporting event you will ever see,” he stated.
