An Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) arena is being built on the White House lawn that will host a cage match next month to commemorate America’s 250th birthday and Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.
The mixed martial arts fight is scheduled for June 14.
Photos of cranes and other construction equipment on the White House lawn on Tuesday showed the beginnings of temporary construction. Trump has said the finished project will feature “a 5,000-seat stadium right outside the front door of the White House.”
Online renderings show what the entire fight space is expected to look like, surrounded by wire mesh fencing. The octagon-shaped cage will be surrounded by a red, white and blue stage under a towering arch with stars and stripes patterns and two large screens that will broadcast the action live.
The cage and stage will be surrounded by thousands of temporary seats, including a front-row space for a full marching band that can set the whole scene with loud music.
Trump first floated the idea of hosting a UFC fight on the White House grounds last year, during an appearance in Idaho on July 4 when he announced festivities planned to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday.
“Think about this on the White House grounds. We have a lot of land there,” he said, originally adding that it would be a “full fight” with 20,000 to 25,000 people in attendance.
In December, Trump said the White House event would host “eight or nine championship fights, the biggest fights they’ve ever had.” But like the size of the crowd, the number of fights expected to take place on the White House lawn has been reduced. The card includes two title fights: a lightweight championship fight between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje in the main event, and an interim heavyweight title fight between Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane.
Trump has long been a fan of mixed martial arts and is close friends with Dana White, the president of the UFC.
As construction began on the White House lawn, Scripps National Spelling Bee competitors sailed around it Tuesday. After 15 years in a convention center in Maryland, the spelling bee moved to Constitution Hall in Washington, DC.
Families staying at the nearby JW Marriott typically cross the Ellipse to get to the lounge, but with construction there, families are taking a longer trip. The father of one of the spellers, Rajeev Malhotra, described the scene as “two very disparate forms of entertainment.”
Associated Press contributed reporting