Crews on Tuesday started erecting an octagon-shaped cage on the South Lawn of the White House for next month’s UFC bout, helping mark the nation’s 250th anniversary — and US President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.
Online renderings depict what the completed, wire-mesh-fence-ringed fight space is expected to look like ahead of the June 14 event.
It would be ringed by a red, white and blue stage under a towering arch featuring stars and stripes patterns and two large screens carrying the action live.
Photo: Bloomberg
The cage and stage would themselves be surrounded by thousands of temporary seats, including ringside space for a full marching band that can set the entire scene to blaring music.
The project is part of a series of events celebrating the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence’s signing on July 4, 1776. Other planned functions include an IndyCar race that would pass by the White House and the Great American State Fair taking place on the National Mall.
Trump has said that the finished UFC project would feature “a 5,000-seat arena right outside the front door of the White House.”
Additional large screens broadcasting the fights would be set up in a park at the nearby Ellipse, and the UFC has said it plans to issue as many as 85,000 free tickets to accommodate spectators at both locations.
“I have never seen anybody want anything so much as people want those tickets,” Trump said of demand to attend the UFC fight, adding: “That’s gonna be something.”
The card has been panned by fans online as underwhelming, featuring just two championship fights. Brazil’s Alex Pereira would meet France’s Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC heavyweight title.
Then Spanish-Georgian lightweight champion Ilia Topuria would take on interim champ Justin Gaethje, one of just two Americans who currently hold even a share of the UFC’s 11 championship belts.
Weigh-ins for the UFC fight are to take place at the Lincoln Memorial, bout organizers said.
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