Crowds flock to White House Ellipse for fan event ahead of UFC fight
By Brian Todd, CNN
(CNN) — It’s not uncommon to see the US Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps perform on the White House grounds in their Revolutionary War-era uniforms. What is unusual is to see that performance just moments after a motocross jumping exhibition.
Welcome to UFC Fan Fest 250.
Thousands gathered on the White House Ellipse on Saturday for a festival celebrating all things Ultimate Fighting Championship, a preview of the mixed martial arts fights slated for Sunday evening on the South Lawn.
Braving temperatures in the 90s, fans stood in long lines for meet and greets with UFC fighters. They waited in line to climb into a replica of a UFC “Octagon” for pictures. And they watched on a massive big screen and cheered, as motocross champion Travis Pastrana led a team of daredevils in high-flying stunts.
The festivities come ahead of Sunday’s UFC fight, hosted by President Donald Trump as part of celebrations leading up to America’s 250th anniversary (and coinciding with his 80th birthday). While the fight has generated enthusiasm among MAGA allies and supporters, the expensive event is one of several personal projects drawing rebukes from Trump critics and skepticism from some Republicans.
Organizers have allotted about 85,000 tickets for the general public at the Ellipse watch party, in addition to around 4,300 people who will be on the South Lawn.
“I’m excited to be here. I like the atmosphere. I’ve never been to a UFC event, so to be able to come here, especially on a free ticket, it’s a dream come true,” said Tyler Wood, a 27-year-old construction worker from Toronto who flew in for the event.
Jacob Lyon, a 17-year-old recent high school graduate from upstate New York, drove about eight hours with a friend to the nation’s capital. In addition to the long drive, they’re lodging more than an hour away from DC, in Leonardtown, Maryland. But they say it’s all worth it.
“I think that it’s going to be probably the best UFC watch party of all time,” Lyon said, adding that “it’s going to be truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Fans also weighed in on the controversies surrounding the UFC events, which kicked off Friday night with a press conference featuring the fighters at the Lincoln Memorial. Two Virginia residents filed an lawsuit last week seeking to block the UFC fight, but a judge rejected the bid Friday.
“The Lincoln Memorial is sacred ground, and it honors everyone who has ever worn this country’s uniform,” one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs, Vietnam War veteran Paul Romano, said in a news release last week. “Using it as a backdrop for a for-profit cage fight so the President and his friends can make money is a desecration.”
Logan Marshall, a 20-year-old college student, flew in from St. Louis to view the fights and doesn’t see the event as controversial.
“I think it’s part of history. I mean, the fighters walking down on the Lincoln Memorial is part of history. I mean, we’ll never see that again, probably, and it was insane to see,” Marshall told CNN.
One concern surrounding the event: the weather. A line of thunderstorms is forecast to move through the DC area on Sunday afternoon, likely containing lightning and high wind gusts.
“If it rains, we’re going,” Dana White, CEO of UFC, said previously. “The only thing that kills us is lightning. So, we could move the event two hours earlier, two hours after.”
Jim Power, a UFC fan from Austin, Texas, was unfazed by the forecast.
“We’re kind of hoping for rain because Dana said they’re gonna fight, rain or shine,” he said as he waited in line Saturday to participate in a simulated UFC walkout. “It would be kind of cool to see fighters fighting in the rain. We don’t think they’ll really do it, but if it happens, that would be amazing.”
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
