UFC Freedom 250: Behind the Scenes of a Historic White House Event

When Craig Borsari, UFC's chief content officer and executive producer in charge of the promotion's broadcasts, first heard about the possibility of a fight card on the White House South Lawn, his initial reaction was disbelief.

"There is no way this was real," Borsari told CBS Sports last week. "I thought [UFC president and CEO] Dana [White] was joking around with me when he threw the idea at me. Then, it was only a few days after when he said we have a call with the White House about that event. It became real, very quickly."

Luckily, for the 51-year-old Borsari, who was hired by UFC in 2005, he and his team have a history executing broadcasting ideas that feel "somewhat impossible" upon first thought. In September 2024, UFC put on the first (and only) live sports event inside The Sphere in Las Vegas for UFC 306 , which set a record for the highest-grossing gate in UFC history and earned the promotion a pair of prestigious Sports Emmy awards for design and innovation.

Less than two years later, UFC will present a historic and unique event on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. titled UFC Freedom 250 that will air live on Paramount+. The event, first announced by President Donald Trump during a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds last July, will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence on a date that doubles as Flag Day and Trump's 80th birthday.

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When Borsari first flew to Washington to meet with the White House staff and began strategizing about the logistics of pulling off such a landmark event -- which includes seating for 4,300 spectators Octagonside and room for 85,000 fans to watch on giant screens at a free fanfest held at the adjacent Ellipse Park -- a series of questions ran through his head.

"How do we get through the security challenges, restrictions and access to the South Lawn?" Borsari recalled. "What is the configuration of the setup going to be? How many people can we get onto the South Lawn? How are we going to be restricted to work within the grounds?"

UFC Freedom 250: Five biggest storylines to follow for the historic event at the White House Brian Campbell

Technically, UFC has promoted just one outdoor event in its 33-year history. In 2010, UFC 112 marked the first time the company promoted an event in the Middle East, which took place in an open-air, temporary concert venue in Abu Dhabi that was only partially covered. Historically, White has been a vocal advocate against outdoor fights, which Borsari doesn't disagree with.

"There are just so many variables that you can't control when you are outside and 99% of the time, we don't have to worry about them," Borsari said. "We don't have to worry about lightning or rain or high winds because, when we are in an area or a stadium, that's all something that we don't have to think about or plan for. In this situation, being outside on the South Lawn of the White House, is something that we have to very much think about and plan for."

Weather will be an ever-present conversation leading up to the start of the broadcast and even during it. UFC already has a meteorologist on site providing weather reports from two separate sources on an hourly basis and has strategized a number of contingency plans.

One option should weather change aggressively without much notice is for UFC to potentially move the start time of the card, which is currently set for 8 p.m. ET. The key patterns Borsari and his team will be monitoring for on fight night are significant rain, lightning within seven miles of the venue and/or winds over 35 mph.

"Those are the three that are really going to require us to think long and hard about what scenarios we want to initiate in terms of contingency," Borsari said. "And there are so many different variables to it that I don't want to bog you down with all of these details. But just know that we are watching things incredibly closely, as is the White House. We will make those decisions as we get more and more information."

Another unique part of UFC Freedom 250 is the overall scale of the production, which includes filming at three different locations: The Lincoln Memorial for Friday's press conference, two days at the 52-acre Ellipse park for the weigh-in and fanfest (featuring a series of concerts headlined by The Zac Brown Band) and Sunday's fight card on the South Lawn.

> Making history once again 👏 See how the ultimate weekend came together and watch the full episode of #UFCWhiteHouse Countdown: https://t.co/KXoWwSQy0N pic.twitter.com/Hh6BTIP80A — UFC (@ufc) June 7, 2026

A normal, numbered UFC event, typically held inside an NBA-sized arena, would see the promotion employ a pair of TV trucks with a load-in of two days. Many times, according to Borsari, should an arena be hosting a different sporting event the night before UFC card, they are forced to load-in starting at midnight the morning of the event.

For the White House event, UFC will have nine TV trucks on site for a load-in that began some 38 days before fight night.

"We are programming over 50 acres [of land]," Borsari said. "The lead time is exponentially more, the amount of trucks. We have 50 generators on site across all different locations. It's just a heavy, heavy lift. A lot of planning on the front end, a lot of rehearsal time that we are going to have to get right."

When White first pitched the idea to Borsari for the event, his biggest request was a simple one: the White House needed to be a prominent backdrop at all times. In order to execute that, Borsari's team secured a custom overhead lighting structure that is being referred to as "The Claw" and is adorned with red, white and blue images of the American flag.

The 92-foot high steel structure is covered by a 100-by-100 foot canopy above the Octagon and was built by Stageco, an Belgian event staging company. "The Claw" weighs 600 tons, has a width of 154 feet and features legs that are roughly 180 feet apart from one another.

"It's a very wide span that allows us to have a big window past the Octagon and, with zero obstructions, a clear shot of the White House in the back," Borsari said. "The White House is going to be a star this night and we fully intend to show it off in all of its glory in every shot that we have that is pointing north."

The opposite view is where a larger seating configuration has been erected, although Borsari made sure that views of the Washington Monument would still be picked up by camera shots pointing south at the National Mall. Even though White has teased multiple times the idea of fighters literally walking to the Octagon through the Oval Office, those decisions won't be made until fight week when everything is lit and the directors can sample the different options.

Either way, viewers should expect different areas of the White House, which has served as the residence and workplace for U.S. presidents dating back to John Adams in 1800, to play a prominent role throughout the broadcast.

"If you were going to put on any sporting event, to do it in front of the White House is the most iconic and most incredible building that you could possibly be in front of," Borsari said. "The ability for us to allow our athletes to emanate onto the South Lawn from different areas from inside the White House is an unbelievable opportunity and something that we are taking incredibly seriously to make sure that it goes smoothly and all the viewers have the ability to see such an incredible building in many ways and places they have never seen it before."

Part of the responsibility that Borsari believes the UFC production team has goes beyond just showcasing their athletes or the venue in a deserving light. Given the nation's upcoming birthday, UFC Freedom 250 will celebrate America's history throughout the broadcast, similar to the ways in which UFC celebrated Mexican culture inside The Sphere for Noche UFC.

"The Sphere was an incredible challenge, as well, [but] much more of a technical challenge for us," Borsari said. "This one, I would describe it more as a logistical challenge and an engineering challenge for us. But, at the end of the day, both of them have very similar goals in terms of storytelling."

The elevated levels of security protocol that come with staging the first professional sporting event in the White House's history was also something Borsari needed to take into account. It became clear early on from working with secret service, homeland security and local police that this was anything but a normal event.

"We knew very early on that this was going to be a different sequence of events and procedures for us to get crew on site for us to do what we needed," Borsari said. "And that's true in all three locations where we are operating. So, with the advance notice and extensive planning with the proper folks at the White House, we knew what we were up against. You have to be patient and it takes more time to get access to the grounds but, so far, all that planning on the front end has paid dividends."

Of the 4,300 seats set up around the Octagon, at least 1,200 have been reserved for active military members. The others will be divided up between the White House, UFC, parent company TKO (which has invited a handful of celebrities) and a select amount set aside to be sold as VIP packages for ticket holders who paid an estimated $1.5 million.

Given UFC's reputation for top-notch production, the stress and pressure facing its production team ahead of events like The Sphere and the White House are things that viewers and fans never see. But when your aim is perfection, it's very real given how many moving parts are in play.

"It's clearly stressful for the entire time," Borsari said. "Everyone feels the pressure but there is also a bit of camaraderie when you get together and try to take on a challenge that seems somewhat impossible. We have assembled an unbelievable team. Maybe my stress level is capped a bit knowing that we are surrounded by so many true professionals that are skilled at what they do.

"It's stressful, it's exciting and I think when you are in it, it goes by very quickly. The viewer at home is ultimately seeing the end part of a lot of planning and communication."

But with Trump having recently raved about the look of "The Claw" structure last week on social media, comparing it to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and floating the idea of making it a permanent fixture on the South Lawn, it begs an interesting question: Can the White House event become an annual thing for UFC?

From a production standpoint, Borsari has his doubts.

"Listen, Dana had told me that The Sphere was a one of one and he told me that this one is a one of one," Borsari said. "If he changes his mind, we will be there to figure it out and make it happen. But I truly believe that an event like this is so special and so unique. The time and money and effort that takes to go into this, I don't think you could do on an annual basis. We wait for the orders from the top but I don't anticipate this one happening again."

Combat sports has sought out some very unique venues in recent years from UFC at The Sphere to TKO's Zuffa Boxing partner, Turki Alalshikh of Saudi Arabia, staging events outside at New York's Times Square in 2025 and in front of The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt last month.

Will the White House represent the pinnacle of how unique a UFC event can be presented or is this just the beginning of a limitless world of possibilities for the Octagon?

"Unless Dana somehow figures out that we are going to the moon or Mars to put on a fight, I can't figure out how we could top this one," Borsari said. "You are talking about a location that has more history and is more secure tha

_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/ufc/news/ufc-freedom-250-white-house-production-layout-structure/)._