Judge Throws Out Lawsuit Blocking UFC at White House

Turns out you can’t stop a UFC event just because you don’t like the décor. On June 11, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta shut down a last-minute legal challenge aimed at blocking UFC Freedom 250 from happening at the White House this Sunday.

Two Virginia residents had filed suit earlier this month arguing that the“Claw”structure on the South Lawn was aesthetically offensive enough to warrant a temporary restraining order. But Judge Mehta wasn’t buying it. He ruled that simply disliking how something looks doesn’t clear the legal bar for stopping an event—there has to be actual, concrete injury. And in this case, there wasn’t one.

The judge also called out the timing. The public knew about UFC Freedom 250 back in July 2025, yet these plaintiffs waited until the eleventh hour to file. That kind of delay doesn’t help your case when you’re asking a court to pull the emergency brake on something about to happen.

So President Trump and Dana White can breathe easy—the event is locked in for June 14. The lawsuit against the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior still technically exists, but any hope of court intervention to stop the fights is gone. The only wildcard left is the weather. Rain is in the forecast for Sunday night in the Nation’s Capital, but Dana White told reporters Freedom 250 will go forward rain or shine. That’s the kind of commitment to the show that litigation apparently can’t derail.