Washington D.C. has seen a lot of historic moments. Presidential inaugurations, watershed protests, events that have shaped the nation. But it had never seen anything quite like this.
UFC Freedom 250 descended on the capital this weekend, turning the landmarks of American democracy into the backdrop for one of the most extraordinary events in combat sports history.
It was, above all else, a celebration. A celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, of the sport that Donald Trump has made no secret of his love for, and of the President himself, who turned 80 on fight night and spent the entire evening ringside.
By the time the fireworks were exploding over the White House to kick-start Sunday’s event, it was hard to argue against Dana White’s claim that this was the biggest show in the UFC’s history. And once the dust had settled, there was simply no denying it.
The weekend’s festivities began with a press conference at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday evening, in a way that nobody who was there will forget in a hurry.
The fighters emerged at the top of the memorial steps – the same steps from which Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech over six decades ago – and walked down to the press conference stage waiting at the bottom.
UFC Freedom 250 had many critics but, in the end, it was hard to find faults with the event
President Trump celebrated his 80th birthday cageside along with UFC chief Dana White
The weekend’s action culminated in a stunning main event upset by US star Justin Gaethje
It was a moment that divided opinion on social media, where many questioned whether the steps of one of America’s most hallowed landmarks was an appropriate setting for a UFC press conference.
But what was beyond dispute was the scale of it. Thousands of fans had made the journey to the National Mall despite heavy rain and rolling thunderstorms, packing the area in front of the memorial to catch a glimpse of the fighters.
And if Friday was surreal, Saturday was something else entirely.
The UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest took over the Ellipse – the vast stretch of parkland just south of the White House – and it delivered a sensory experience that is genuinely difficult to put into words.
Around 60,000 fans poured through the gates across the day and the atmosphere built steadily toward what became one of the more extraordinary scenes of the entire weekend.
A Zuffa Boxing press conference got things underway, followed by the ceremonial weigh-ins, and it was at that point that the event reached a level of pageantry that only America could produce with a straight face.
Kai Trump was on stage alongside Dana White, the crowd roared its approval and the whole thing felt simultaneously like a sporting event, a political rally and a Fourth of July celebration rolled into one.
Then came the parachutists, descending from the sky with the Stars and Stripes billowing behind them as they fell, sending the crowd into pandemonium.
The event’s press conference was held at the iconic Lincoln Memorial on Friday evening
Fighters made their way down the landmark’s iconic steps down to a press conference table
Thousands of fans braved the elements – which included lightning – to witness the event
The next day, UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest got underway, where White met up with supporters
A bald eagle swept across the Ellipse during the action on Saturday afternoon
Shortly afterwards – in what became a moment that will end up in highlight reels for years to come – a bald eagle swept across the Ellipse and landed on stage.
It was almost too on the nose. Almost.
Fight night itself, meanwhile, did not begin without drama. Rain threatened to derail proceedings entirely, delays pushing the start of the evening back and testing the patience of a crowd that had already waited all weekend for this moment.
It did not matter in the end. The storms that had haunted the event all week never fully materialised, and when Donald Trump walked out alongside Dana White to take his seat ringside – on his 80th birthday, on the South Lawn of the White House – the atmosphere that greeted him suggested the crowd had forgotten all about the wait.
Then came the jets. As The Zac Brown Band’s rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner rang out across the lawn, twelve jets screamed overhead in formation.
It was the kind of moment that stops you in your tracks. For all the scepticism that had surrounded the event, it was difficult, in that moment, to find fault with any of it.
Fight night lived up to expectations as well. It became the only UFC card in history to deliver knockouts in every one of the card’s bouts, a stat that will be hard to match.
The co-main and main event fighters made their entrances in fittingly grand fashion, walking out from the Oval Office itself before making their way to the octagon.
It was the kind of detail that summed up the evening perfectly. The UFC did not merely borrow the White House as a backdrop, but made itself entirely at home there.
Trump standing cageside after watching the action unfold on his 80th birthday
The fights lived up to expectations, with knockouts delivered in every single one of the bouts
Trump, pictured with Ciryl Gane, took time to speak with victorious fighters on the night
For all the controversy that surrounded UFC Freedom 250 from the moment it was announced, Sunday night made the argument better than any press release could
On a night where every fight delivered stoppages – for the first time in UFC history – it was not all plain sailing. Josh Hokit, never far from controversy, lived up to his reputation with a post-fight interview that left many in the crowd and watching at home uncomfortable – a sour note on an otherwise celebratory evening.
The night also produced one of its more surreal subplots when Tyson Fury materialised cageside, as he so often does, entirely unannounced. The former heavyweight champion sat down for an interview and teased a major announcement -before adding that he would leave that to Dana White.
Meanwhile, in the co-main eventCiryl Gane stunned Alex Pereira with a second-round knockout to claim the interim heavyweight title and deny the Brazilian a third divisional crown.
And then came Justin Gaethje – 37 years old, written off, a massive underdog – who somehow bested the previously undefeated Ilia Topuria throughout four brutal rounds to be crowned undisputed lightweight champion of the world.
As the fireworks exploded over the White House, it felt less like a sporting event and more like the closing scene of a film nobody would have believed if you’d written it.
For all the controversy that surrounded UFC Freedom 250 from the moment it was announced, Sunday night made the argument better than any press release could.
The production was flawless, the fights were extraordinary, and the setting was unlike anything the sport has seen before or is likely to see again.
It was, in the most literal sense, quite the spectacle.
