Rain or shine, it sounds like UFC Freedom 250 is going down.
The historic one-of-one White House card goes down this weekend (Sun., June 14, 2026), with UFC Lightweight champion, Ilia Topuria, unifying the 155-pound title against interim titleholder, Justin Gaethje, in the Paramount+-streamed main event.
In the co-main event, Alex Pereira attempts to make UFC history by winning a third title in a third division, taking on multiple-time Heavyweight title challenger, Ciryl Gane. The entire card takes
place on the South Lawn in Washington, D.C., to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.
Beyond UFC holding a cage fighting event at the damn White House on Donald Trump’s birthday, one of the biggest storylines heading into fight night has been the weather.
UFC CEO Dana White has already said the show will go on no matter what. But, with just four days left until showtime, the promotion finally revealed — sort of — what will happen if the weather gets dicey.
“We have a few options,” UFC Executive Producer and Chief Content Officer Craig Borsari said today at UFC Freedom 250 media day when asked about the broadcast plan if the event gets delayed. “One is to stay on air, and we have contingency planning where we can remain on air and continue to broadcast from a location close by the South Lawn.
“If we feel like a weather pattern is coming in that will pass through and we can resume, we will,” Borsari continued. “So, we would not leave the broadcast. We would just fill and report from the site.”
According to Borsari, UFC will be monitoring the situation in real time with a meteorologist on-site.
“It is a bit of an evaluation,” Borsari said. “So, when we’re going through that, we will be talking regularly to a meteorologist, who is on site right now giving us updates. We’ll have to figure out what the window looks like. Do we have the ability to resume, or what is the extent of the weather front that is coming through?”
White also recently revealed that he had three different Octagon canvases made for the event in case one gets impacted by the weather.
As of this writing, the forecast for Sunday in Washington, D.C., is calling for a hot and sticky fight night. Temperatures are expected to climb into the low 90s during the day before hovering in the upper 80s when the main card window begins, with mostly cloudy skies later in the evening. There is a 20 percent chance that it rains in during the card.
So, while rain does not currently appear to be a major threat, heat, humidity, sweat, bugs, and an outdoor canvas could all still become factors for the fighters competing in the open-air Octagon.
Get ready for potential chaos.
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