When designing the stage for the UFC fights taking place on the White House lawn on Sunday, June 14, there was one nonnegotiable feature: Viewers had to be able to see the White House in all its glory.
To find a stage that could host a mixed martial arts bout without obstructing the view of the “People’s House,” ESPN reports that the government turned to a design called “The Claw.” Created by the Belgium-based event-staging company Stageco, the tent that’s being used made its debut at the 2017 Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands.
It is made of two criss-crossing arches but was adapted slightly for the South Lawn, heightened by 20 feet and widened by 50 feet to sit over the octagonal ring. The structure was chosen because it provides an unobstructed view of the White House and Washington Monument, depending on which direction you’re seated. It also holds the temporary venue’s heavy lighting and speakers.
Stageco shipped the set from Europe in pieces, and it was assembled first in Pennsylvania as a test-build by the live events production company Tait, which is working with the UFC for the Freedom 250 event. The stage was then driven in four pieces to the White House. Matting was placed on the lawn to protect the grass before crews started setting up the stage.
The site on the South Lawn is one of three the UFC has prepared for the fights. Press conferences will be held at the Lincoln Memorial, and the weigh-ins will take place on the Ellipse. It’s an expansive production, especially considering the mixed martial arts league typically holds all those activities in a single location.
Pro sports comes to the White House
The White House has hosted an ice skating rink with the NHL when former President Joe Biden was in office and tee ball games when former President George W. Bush was in office. Sunday’s fight night is unprecedented, though. It’s the first professional sports event to be held on the White House grounds.
As such, the event has brought pro-sports-level commercial advertising. The logos of corporate sponsors like Polymarket—the prediction market that named the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. as an adviser last year—are stamped across the venue. All told, it will cost at least $60 million to put on the fights.
On Saturday, June 6, the Public Integrity Project, an investigative advocacy and litigation group based in Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit to stop the spectacle, accusing the Trump administration of corruption, failing to obtain congressional approval, and violating federal law by hosting a private sporting event on public land. But a federal judge ruled on Friday that the show will go on.
Trump has compared the structure on the White House South Lawn to the Eiffel Tower, and even suggested that he might leave it up after the bouts are over. Despite those comments, the Claw will not remain at the White House for very long.
Stageco U.S. operations manager Nick Rivas told ESPN that it will be disassembled over the course of seven to 10 days after the MMA matches end. The temporary stage will head back to Pennsylvania for packing and shipment to Europe, where it’s needed in August for the Lowlands Festival.