What we know about the UFC fight at the White House

(CNN) — The Ultimate Fighting Championship is taking over swaths of the nation’s capital, with the headline cage matches set to take place at the White House on Sunday.

A massive arched lighting grid, which the UFC calls “The Claw,” has been constructed on the South Lawn, complete with stands and the Octagon underneath.

A UFC press conference and face-offs at the Lincoln Memorial; meet and greets with current and former UFC athletes; a performance by Zac Brown Band; and a ceremonial weigh-in on the Ellipse are all planned over the weekend leading up to the main event.

The UFC fight falls on Flag Day, which is also President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. After a military flyover, he’ll walk out alongside UFC CEO Dana White from the White House balcony to his seat in the stands, according to a White House official.

When the fighters strap on their gloves and climb into the cage, more than 100,000 people will descend on the White House grounds to watch them battle it out.

Here’s what else you need to know about the event:

‘The Claw’

The massive lighting structure known as “The Claw” is nearly impossible to miss, even blocks from the White House.

CEO Dana White told “The Jim Rome Show” that UFC found a place in Belgium to create the structure.

“It’s a lighting grid that almost looks like a spaceship, and it goes over the Octagon,” White said, referring to UFC’s signature eight-sided fenced-in fighting arena. “Shipped it from Belgium to Philly. Built it in Philly and tested it. Tore it back down and put it on trucks and shipped it to DC.”

Who’s fighting?

The fight card includes the main events between American Justin Gaethje vs. Georgian Ilia Topuria in the lightweight title bout and Brazilian Alex Pereira vs. France’s Ciryl Gane in the heavyweight interim title bout. All the matches are listed on the UFC website with further information about the fighters. There are eight American fighters on the UFC Freedom 250 fight card.

Tickets

All events are free and ticketed. However, the cutoff to request tickets for the “UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest” was May 22, according to a “last chance” email UFC sent out.

The White House official told CNN last month that people had been for tickets to the event, a third of which are reserved for military members and their families, a third for White House staff and their families and another third for VIPs. UFC also has 200 tickets to give out on the South Lawn. White told Fox News in an interview that 4,300 people will be on the actual South lawn for the fight and “most of them will be military.”

Senior Pentagon leaders are putting together lists of uniformed service members who will be offered the chance to attend the fight, but tickets will only be given to those who meet military body composition standards, according to guidance memos reviewed by CNN and sources familiar with the process.

There are about 85,000 tickets allotted for the general public at the Ellipse watch party, as well.

First lady Melania Trump is expected to attend the fight, a second White House official told CNN.

What does this cost?

Planning for this event has been a massive production – and investment – for UFC, bolstered by the federal government. According to court documents provided by the Trump administration in a legal battle seeking to halt the event, the event has cost UFC more than $60 million.

The UFC is responsible for “production, labor, construction, and promotion costs,” while the federal government is providing “emergency equipment and services, including first aid/medical services, law enforcement, and security,” White House management and administration director Joshua Fisher said in a sworn declaration.

That price tag, according to Fisher, includes “a substantial volume of perishable food items for the anticipated 4,000 South Lawn guests and over 120,000 Ellipse guests.”

It’s not yet clear how much those federal services are costing taxpayers.

What happens if it rains?

A third White House official said that weather is certainly a factor given the fight is outside. But the hope is that the forecast is clear.

There is a possibility that the timing of fights could shift if lighting is expected, the first White House official said. Fight times could get moved up or back, depending on weather.

In the interview with Fox News, White said he hates having fights outdoors because of the unpredictability. But he said the team will be working with the US military to monitor the weather by the hour and make any necessary changes.

“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. Seven days out, they’ll notify us every hour,” White said. “The only thing that kills us is lightning. So, we could move the event two hours earlier, two hours after.”

The only other UFC event that has been held outdoors was in Abu Dhabi in 2010, White told Fox.

‘Kind of a gimmick’

The White House has faced some criticism for hosting a UFC fight on the South Lawn, including from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office which wrote on X, “Mr. President, we just want lower gas prices.” Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren posted a picture of the UFC construction, writing, “It might be hard to see from this picture today of the White House, but Donald Trump is very focused on lowering costs.”

Notably,podcast host Joe Rogan, who also commentates for UFC, said on his show the fight is “kind of a gimmick” and a “security nightmare” — but, he plans on attending the event.

“I’ll be there, but I’m not thrilled about it,” Rogan said. “It just doesn’t seem like a wise idea.”

In a TIME magazine article on White, Trump responded to Rogan’s criticism.

“At first I thought, ‘That’s not nice,” Trump said. “And then I realized, it is a gimmick. Life is a gimmick, if you think about it, right? But it’s a good gimmick. It’s something that will never happen again.”

Rogan also previously said on his podcast that hosting the UFC fight during the Iran war would be “weird.”

“It’s going to be very high security, and high stress and weird to have a fight at the White House in the middle of a f**king war,” he said.