The layout for the watch party at UFC Freedom 250 has been revealed, with the Ellipse (the 52-acre park adjacent to The White House) set to accommodate 85,000 fans.
While 4,300 ticketholders will watch Ilia Topuria vs Justin Gaethje, Alex Pereira vs Ciryl Gane and five other fights from the White House lawn itself, the Ellipse setup is shaping up to be a spectacle of its own. The pictures show a stadium-style layout featuring 10 massive screens at the front and smaller screens throughout the park. The stage has been designed with an opening at the back, keeping the White House visible from inside the venue. UFC CEO Dana White confirmed tickets are free and available via registration.
🚨| The UFC has unveiled official renderings of its setup at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., where 85,000 fans will gather to watch a live screening of #UFCFreedom250 next month. 👀🔥
(via @FoxNews) #UFCWhiteHouse pic.twitter.com/yAzPVjejhU
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) May 4, 2026
“The Ellipse is a massive park, you’ll be able to see the fight from the Ellipse. But we have screens, we got stages, we have music, we have activations over there. If you are a fan of the UFC, and especially if you have never been to Washington, D.C., we’re going to give away about 85,000 tickets. And there’s a process. You have to register for tickets, and they’re free,” White said
White also revealed the start time for UFC Freedom 250 on June 14 remains subject to change, with the weather set to play a key role in final scheduling decisions during fight week. White confirmed the military is monitoring conditions and will provide the UFC with updates as the event approaches. Lightning remains the one factor that could force a change, with a window of two hours either side of the scheduled start time available if needed.
White has been vocal throughout the build-up about his reluctance to host outdoor events, pointing to the UFC’s only previous experience — UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi — where bugs and extreme heat made for difficult conditions. Despite that, the scale of the White House event pushed him to make an exception.
“I hate outdoors, outdoors is just way too unpredictable and we’ve gone over this and if it rains, we’re going, if it snows, we’re going, the only thing that will stop us is lightning. But we’re working with the military. So, the military knows the weather 10 days out and they’ll notify us every two hours 10 days out, 7 days out they’ll notify us every hour.
“There’s also another company that does it for concerts and things like that, they’re very good too. So what could happen is, the only thing that kills us is lightning so we can move the event two hours earlier, two hours later, so these are all things that we’ll be playing with the week of the event on top of all of the other things we’ll have going on,” White said