U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta denied an emergency request to stop the Trump administration’s UFC Freedom 250 event, finding that the plaintiffs had not shown that blocking it would serve the public interest.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A federal judge on Friday refused to halt the Trump administration’s plan to host UFC Freedom 250 on the White House grounds, allowing the weekend event to move forward despite an emergency lawsuit from District of Columbia residents.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, denied the request in a Friday order, ruling that the plaintiffs had not met the legal burden required to stop the event at the last minute.
The lawsuit sought to block the National Park Service from allowing the Ultimate Fighting Championship event to proceed on the White House grounds. The event, promoted as UFC Freedom 250, will continue as planned.
Mehta found that the residents who sued had not shown that stopping the event would be in the public interest. He also said the timing of the challenge weakened their argument that immediate court intervention was necessary.
The plaintiffs’ “unreasonable delay” in filing the lawsuit “undercuts their claims of irreparable harm,” Mehta wrote.
The lawsuit argued that President Donald Trump’s plan was “deeply corrupt” and claimed the arrangement gave the Ultimate Fighting Championship “unfettered access to the White House and Lincoln Memorial” for the purpose of enriching UFC CEO Dana White and Trump.
The plaintiffs also challenged the use of the White House South Lawn for a sporting event and objected to the construction of the fight venue, a large structure known by the White House and UFC as “The Claw.”
“In particular, the UFC is erecting a 92-foot-tall, 600-ton steel structure it calls ‘the Claw’ immediately adjacent to the Executive Residence, and is destroying much of the South Lawn in the process,” the lawsuit claimed.
The White House gave reporters access to The Claw on Thursday, ahead of the planned event.
Mehta’s ruling does not resolve the underlying legal dispute, but it denies the emergency relief sought by the residents and leaves the administration free to proceed with the scheduled UFC event. The decision marks a legal victory for the Trump administration as it prepares to host the fight on the White House grounds this weekend.
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