THE man in charge of the UFC White House arena has revealed new details of the promotion’s contingency plan if bad weather strikes.
Mixed martial arts‘ top promotion will host a historic card in a purpose-built 4,300-seater arena on the White House lawn early on Monday morning.
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The UFC hosts it’s historic White House card this weekend Credit: UFC
The card will take place in a purpose-built arena on the South Lawn Credit: AP
But it’s currently under major threat due to a potential rain storm and lightening, the latter of which will bring a definite half to the show if its within an eight-mile radius of the Oval Office.
A 92-foot canopy will keep the octagon dry if the forecast for rain, which is currently at 55 per cent and is set to commence just before the card gets underway, proves to be true.
The UFC have confirmed they may possibly bring the start time forward to combat the bad weather.
But if it strikes during the event, they will pause proceedings until it stops.
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And the UFC’s promotion’s Head of Production, Craig Bosari, has revealed they have been given plenty of leeway by American broadcasters CBS and Paramount+ if they have to implement an unexpected intermission.
When asked if the broadcasters have given them a hard out, Borsari told JattvibeSport: “No.
“The team at CBS and Paramount Plus have been fantastic. We have maximum flexibility with them.
“So we have the ability to be on their platform, really. anytime we want to go.
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Bad weather is threatening to scupper the card entirely Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK
The UFC’s Head of Production, Craig Borsari, has revealed that a contingency plan is in place Credit: PER HALJESTAM / SUNSPORT
“Obviously, we need to work in lockstep with them in terms of messaging.
“But we have the ability to, to go live in any window we want to go.”
Borsari, however, admits UFC bigwigs will need to make a decision on moving the start time at least four hours before the first fight of the night.
He said: “For our sport, because the athletes have to weigh in, that’s kind of the window that we’re working with.
“We have a little bit of flexibility on show day to move either forward or later, nothing too significant.
UFC White House card in full
Ilia Topuira vs. Justin Gaethje – lightweight title unification fight
Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane – interim heavyweight title
Sean O’Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi – men’s bantamweight bout
Josh Hokit vs. Derrick Lewis – heavyweight bout
Mauricio Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler – lightweight bout
Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus – middleweight bout
Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia – featherweight bout
“But we will try to make that call on any significant move; we’ll try to do that with, you know, four to eight hours lead up.
“It’s a bit of a tricky game because as you get closer to show day, the confidence in terms of weather patterns becomes greater.
“And higher probability in terms of the prediction of what we’re going to be faced with.
“So, unfortunately, we won’t be able to wait too long if we want to change the time in a significant way.
“We obviously need to protect the health and safety of the athletes and allow them to cut weight properly.”
UFC Freedom 250 is headlined by an eagerly anticipated lightweight title unification bout between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje.
