Speaking with reporters including Cageside Press following the one-of-a-kind event on Sunday, White was in a jovial mood, but blunt when asked about further shows in outdoor venues.

“I don’t ever want to f*cking be outside ever again. There’s just too much leading up to the fight that you just have to sweat,” exclaimed White. “Unless you’re in like Abu Dhabi where we did it before. I could be the weatherman in Abu Dhabi and I’ve be right all the time.”

The UFC had to deal with thunderstorm concerns in the Washington area on Sunday, and even pushed back the start time of their planned broadcast on Paramount+. Originally, a one-hour pre-fight show had been slotted in for 7PM ET, with fights starting at 8. Instead, the broadcast kicked off at 8PM though White and the President walked out to the cage at about 8:30, with fights starting shortly after.

The UFC constructed their own venue on the White House lawn, with a metal structure dubbed “the claw” suspended over the octagon. Still, the show was very much at the mercy of the elements. Concerns about heat, humidity, and bugs were also brought up in advance of the card.

Later, White would poll his own fighters on the subject. “I have a question. Everybody up here, all the guys, what was it like fighting outside?”

“The breeze was really nice,” Justin Gaethje answered. Everyone on stage appeared to love the experience.

“Still no,” White said to laughs. “Outside, when you’re doing events like we do, there’s enough things that you have to worry about. And what I always try to do is create the best experience possible for the fans. And if we have to worry about weather and all the things that come along with being outside, I don’t like it.”

Asked if there was a possibility of bringing some elements from the show to indoor venues, like having servicemen and first responders walk out the fighters to the cage, White revealed that the UFC is looking to bring back its old Fight for the Troops line of events, and have been in conversation about it with U.S. President Donald Trump.

“The President and I are talking about doing a Fight for the Troops next year. So obviously if you did a Fight for the Troops we’d do all that kind of stuff. We did a lot of them in the past. We used to work with the Fisher family, who were very dialed in with the military and could get things done easily.”

Three Fight for the Troops cards were held between 2008 and 2013, with locations including Fort Hood and Fort Campbell.

“It’s not easy to get things done on military bases and things like that. But when we had the Fisher family, and then obviously the President can make a lot of things happen,” White added.

Apparently, Trump had expressed a desire to see a Fight for the Troops card in 2026. “We’re talking about doing it next year. He wanted to do it this year, and I said ‘sir, I need a year to recover financially from the White House fights, so give me a year.”

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