A federal judge cleared the way Friday for the first mixed martial arts event ever held at the White House, dismissing a last-minute legal challenge hours before tonight’s UFC Freedom 250 card is set to begin on the South Lawn.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta rejected the lawsuit in a 15-page ruling, finding the two Virginia plaintiffs lacked legal standing to challenge the event. “Plaintiffs fall short of showing they are ‘directly affected’ by Defendants’ actions,” Mehta wrote. The ruling did not address whether the administration broke federal law in approving the event — a question that remains unresolved.
The fight card, headlined by lightweight champion Ilia Topuria defending his title against interim champion Justin Gaethje, begins at 8 p.m. ET tonight on Paramount+. Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane meet in the co-main event for the interim heavyweight title. The card also features Sean O’Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi, Mauricio Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler, Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus, Josh Hokit vs. Derrick Lewis, and Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia — seven bouts in total, staged inside a 92-foot, 600-ton steel structure the UFC erected on the South Lawn beginning May 26.
The structure, known as “The Claw,” cost the UFC more than $60 million to produce, according to a sworn declaration filed by White House management and administration director Joshua Fisher. That figure covers production, labor, construction, and promotion. The federal government is providing emergency medical services, law enforcement, and security. UFC CEO Dana White has estimated the South Lawn alone will cost $700,000 to repair after teardown.
Trump purchased up to $50,000 in TKO stock — the UFC’s parent company — in May, while TKO executives publicly called the White House venue “the greatest earned-marketing tool of all time.” VIP packages for the event were offered at $1.5 million each.
Park closures surrounding the event began May 20 and run through June 28 — 40 days covering Lafayette Park, the Ellipse, E Street between 15th and 17th Streets, Sherman Park, Hamilton Place, and the White House sidewalk along Pennsylvania Avenue. An additional Secret Service closure activated June 12 and runs through June 15.
The lawsuit was filed June 6 by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of Paul Romano, a retired Air Force sergeant and part-time rideshare driver from Springfield, Virginia, and Susan Douglas, a Democratic activist from Alexandria who is nearly 70 and has painful osteoarthritis in both knees. Romano said his connection to the affected area comes from driving past it on rideshare trips. Douglas said extended road closures have forced her to take longer walking routes while organizing protests near the White House and Lincoln Memorial.
The complaint made three substantive legal arguments. First, National Park Service regulations prohibit private sporting events on federal parkland, and the only applicable exception — a temporary rule issued June 17, 2025 — covers only events “planned, organized, and executed by executive departments and agencies or the Semiquincentennial Commission.” Neither of the two organizations involved in semiquincentennial planning lists the UFC card on their event schedules; the UFC is listed as a sponsor of one of them, not an organizer. Second, under 40 U.S.C. § 8106, no structure may be erected on federal parklands in the District of Columbia without express congressional authorization — authorization that was never sought for the Claw. Third, the National Environmental Policy Act required a public environmental assessment before construction began. None was conducted.
Mehta dismissed on standing without reaching any of those arguments. He also found the June 6 filing came too late, rejecting the plaintiffs’ explanation that the decision to sue was based on newly gathered information. The closures had been in effect for 17 days when the lawsuit was filed. The Claw had been under construction for 11 days.
Mehta agreed with the administration that stopping the event at this stage would cause “substantial harm” given the planning, costs, and labor already committed. On Romano specifically, Mehta noted that “only a serendipitous rideshare trip would place him in a position to see the Claw on the night of the fights.”
The administration called the lawsuit “obstructionist, baseless, and dilatory,” and said the event was “no different than the various other White House-hosted events on the South Lawn and properly permitted events on the Ellipse and National Mall throughout the year.” Extended closures of the area are not unprecedented — Lafayette Park was closed for nearly a year following the George Floyd protests in 2020, and the NPS imposed a separate four-and-a-half month closure of Lafayette Park and the White House sidewalk from January through May 2026 for semiquincentennial renovation work.
The three statutory questions the plaintiffs raised — whether a private corporation qualifies under the America250 regulatory exception, whether the Claw required congressional authorization, and whether NEPA applied — were never answered. Mehta’s ruling means they remain open. Whether they are ever litigated depends on whether a plaintiff with cleaner standing files a future challenge, or whether Congress examines the administration’s use of the semiquincentennial exception for a $60 million commercial event that neither semiquincentennial planning body organized.
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