For months this card sounded like a fever dream — Dana White actually convinced the federal government to let him drop an octagon on the South Lawn. Now it's here, the cage is built, the Washington Monument is the backdrop, and Barstool's crew has been on the ground all week documenting just how surreal the setup really is.
A first look at the octagon constructed on the White House grounds with the Monument peeking over the cage.
The pre-fight circus has lived up to the venue. Media day featured Megan Olivi, DC, Bisping, Anik, Merab, and Laura Sanko all cycling through, and the presser at the Lincoln Memorial somehow turned into a Josh Hokit roast set on Ilia Topuria that nobody saw coming. Then Topuria shoved Justin Gaethje and Dana White's face in the middle of it became the meme of the day.
Topuria and Gaethje get into it on the Lincoln Memorial steps and Dana's reaction is the whole bit.
Outside the cage, the spectacle keeps escalating. The fan fest at the Ellipse is massive — stage rigging, a giant UFC sculpture, jumbotrons framed by the Monument — and at one point skydivers came in trailing American flags. It's less weigh-in weekend and more 4th of July with a main event attached.
Scale shots from the Ellipse fan fest as the UFC takes over the National Mall.
And then there's Lincoln. The American Eagle Foundation brought an actual bald eagle to the Freedom 250 weigh-ins, the handler raised him on the gloved hand, and somebody in the production truck nailed the music cue at the exact second the wings went up. You cannot script this any harder.
The bald eagle reveal with the musical hit landing perfectly under the stage lights.
Weather is the one wild card — thunderstorms are still in the Sunday forecast — but at this point the UFC has gone so far over the top that even a rain delay would just feel like another piece of Americana. Bald eagles, Marine Band harps, parachuting flags, and a cage at the White House. Freedom 250 isn't a fight card anymore. It's a holiday.