UFC ‘Freedom 250’ Card Draws Thousands To DC On Trump’s 80th Birthday
Thousands of UFC fans, protesters and supporters of President Trump descended on Washington, DC, on Sunday evening as the commander in chief prepared to celebrate his 80th birthday with a seven-fight UFC card on the White House South Lawn.
Trump and roughly 4,000 ticketed guests reserved seats inside a custom-built structure known as the “Claw” — a massive steel lighting, camera and tarp overhang erected adjacent to the executive mansion. Up to 120,000 additional ticket holders were expected to watch the fights from the Ellipse just south of the White House.
Mixed martial arts fans flooded security checkpoints ahead of the first bout at 8 p.m., chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A!” while protesters nearby invited passersby to wish the president a “crappy birthday.”
The event, dubbed UFC Freedom 250 in recognition of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, was also available to stream on Paramount+, though many fans said simply being present in Washington was part of the attraction.
“We left at like 2:00 in the morning. None of us could sleep, we were so buzzed about this,” said Kellen Drury, 27, of Altoona, Pennsylvania, who traveled to the nation’s capital with friends despite not securing tickets.
“It was still worth the trip just to be here. It’s like being outside the Super Bowl,” Drury said. “People are gonna bitch and moan about the cost, they’re gonna call it tacky, they’re gonna speak out against the brutality of the fighting itself. But even the haters are gonna watch it because that’s what Donald Trump’s all about, making it too hard to look away.”
Darius Boone, 43, of Prince George’s County, Maryland, said he attended because of his love of the UFC and the uniqueness of the event.
“I’m just here because I’m a fan and nothing like this has ever been done before,” Boone said. “Plus, it’s celebratory. I mean, come on, we’re celebrating a major milestone in the history of our country. Really, what’s more American than a $60 million claw on the White House lawn?”
Nolan Haugen, 34, of Fargo, North Dakota, agreed.
“How many times do you get a chance to see something that’s never been done before, especially something so ridiculous?” he said. “It’s like bringing Las Vegas to DC. Of course I had to see it — just to say I was here. I’m not even that big a fan of the UFC, although I’ll admit I’m a fan of the president. Happy birthday President Trump!”
Not everyone was enthusiastic.
DC resident Nadia Rahman, 36, called the event “completely tasteless.”
“It is historic, in its own way, because nothing else Trump has done in either term quite encapsulates who he is in one swoop,” she said. “It’s strangely comical, except nothing about what I’m seeing is the least bit funny.”
Outside the Ellipse, members of the activist group Code Pink held a picnic under a banner reading, “They fight, we feed.”
“We reject this endless, endless violent culture that the US has perpetuated,” one volunteer said. “So we are instead living the world that we want by feeding each other and taking care of each other, versus celebrating fighting and violence.”
The National Park Service said in a court filing that the UFC and its sponsors spent more than $60 million and tens of thousands of hours preparing for the event.
The filing came in response to a lawsuit from the liberal Public Integrity Project, which argued the fights represented an improper use of national monuments for private gain.
Mark Shapiro, president and chief operating officer of UFC parent company TKO, previously said the event was not designed to generate direct profits.
“We will not be making money on America’s 250th anniversary,” Shapiro said earlier this month. “This is an investment for the long term. This is about earned media.”
“We see this once-in-a-lifetime stage as a strategic investment to drive subscriber acquisition at Paramount+, massive audience sampling for the UFC overall and Super Bowl-like earned media across the globe.”