UFC Freedom 250 is set to take place this coming Sunday on the White House lawn — though not if a recently filed lawsuit has anything to say about it.
Lawyers with the Public Integrity Project, who previously sued over Donald Trump’s approval of the sale of social media app TikTok, have filed suit against the UFC’s White House event. The lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Paul Romano of Springfield, Virginia, a retired Air Force Sergeant and Vietnam War medevac veteran, and Susan Douglas of Alexandria, Virginia, a longtime civic activist and organizer, per a press release obtained by Cageside Press.
The lawsuit, the text of which Cageside Press has also obtained, almost immediately labels the card as “deeply corrupt,” adding that the event is “being organized by the UFC, whose chief executive, Dana White, is a close friend and ally of the President. The President is giving White and his company what none have enjoyed before: unfettered access to the White House and Lincoln Memorial to stage a private, for-profit sports event, with all the promotional and branding opportunities that accompany such access.”
The lawsuit notes the sale of high-priced VIP Packages “for between $1 million and $1.5 million per head,” and that U.S. President Donald Trump stands to personally gain from the event, based on “Reporting published in late May revealed that earlier this spring, he purchased up to $50,000 worth of stock in TKO, UFC’s owner.”
The suit goes on to read that the so-called “claw” structure being constructed on the South Lawn of the White House for the show lacks congressional approval. “Under the National Park Service’s (“NPS” or “Park Service”) usual permitting regime, no special events of
any sort, including any sporting events, may be held on the South Lawn or at the Lincoln Memorial. Nor may structures be erected on the South Lawn without express authorization from Congress and a thorough environmental review.”
“Any erection of structures on national monumental grounds must be expressly
authorized by Congress, and, insofar as it constitutes a major federal action, must undergo
thorough National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) review,” the complaint later adds.
The lawsuit aims to secure “judicial relief for their [plaintiffs] injuries, uphold the rule of
law, and protect our nation’s most cherished monuments from corrupt exploitation.”
Given the event is just a week away, it’s unclear what if anything short of an emergency injunction is likely to stop it. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and targets both the National Parks Service and the United States Department of the Interior, who oversee the White House grounds.
“This is a profoundly corrupt scheme to enrich the President and his friends,” said Brendan Ballou, founder of the Public Integrity Project, in the aforementioned press release. “If this fight is allowed to proceed, it will be only the beginning, and our national monuments will become little more than branding opportunities for the rich and well-connected. We plan to stop that.”
UFC Freedom 250 is scheduled to take place on Sunday, June 14, 2026 at the White House, making in the first-ever professional sporting event to be held at the nation’s capitol.
