Joe Rogan questions whether the White House is the right place for a UFC event.
Excitement continues to build around UFC White House, with construction under way as Dana White and company work to prepare for every contingency at the historic June 14 show. White has mentioned in multiple interviews how complicated the logistics are with security—President Donald Trump and numerous high-ranking officials are planning to attend—among the chief concerns, and on top of that there are the challenges that have to be considered with any outdoor event.
Almost every event in the UFC’s 33-year history has taken place indoors, with White famously reluctant to take the octagon outdoors due to all the external factors. Rogan echoed those concerns on a recent episode of his podcast and he sounds unconvinced every detail is going to get ironed out come fight night.
“The White House thing is odd,” Rogan said. “I don’t like it. I don’t like the idea of fighting outside at all. June and it’s D.C. and we looked it up, the last time, like last year, same day, was 100 degrees. That’s hot as f*ck. You add the lights. How about dehydration?
“The bugs are a big one. What are they going to do about that? How are they going to f*cking do anything about the bugs because I know that Dana was talking about that recently, they were talking about maybe using fans. Is that enough? Got bug strips everywhere? What are you going to do? How are you going to stop the bugs, there’s a lot of bugs.”
The UFC has been criticized for hosting numerous events every year at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, which started during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. However, the company-owned venue has allowed the promotion to comfortably hold events on an almost weekly basis without having to always go on the road.
Several title fights took place at the Apex during the pandemic and Rogan prefers that over possibly forcing champions to perform under less-than-ideal circumstances.
“I just don’t think that you should compete in a world championship fight in a non-controlled environment,” Rogan said. “I think it should be inside an air conditioned arena. It should be a controlled environment, just like-You wouldn’t ask them to play a world championship basketball game outside in the sun. That would be crazy? You play in a f*cking air conditioned arena. That’s how it should be.”
UFC White House promises to be one of the most expensive events ever produced in the history of combat sports, with White acknowledging that his promotion is set to lose money due to the necessary costs and the zero ticket sales (executives, VIPs, and special invited guests will attend at the White House with tens of thousands of fans having the opportunity to watch for free at the neighboring Ellipse park).
Rogan wonders why they can’t stretch the budget even further to accommodate the fighters as much as possible.
“I get it, too, but listen, build a f*cking roof,” Rogan said. “Build a roof. You’ve got all the money in the world. You want to do this for f*cking America, it’s 4,000 seats. You build a 4,000-seat arena. How big is that? Get a f*cking barndominium, put it in there. We did UFCs with the troops, we did them in hangars.
“Put [the White House] in the background on TV. Who gives a f*ck? It’s just like, when world class fighters are competing, I don’t think they should have to compete outside. Imagine if someone loses a fight because it’s too hot out. Imagine if that becomes a factor. Imagine the dehydrated fighters. The dehydrated fighters that are now being forced 24 hours later to fight in a 100 degree heat.”
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