Dana White reveals staggering attendance for UFC White House event: ‘We’re going to take over D.C.’

Fight fans have been feverishly discussing the upcoming UFC White House event from the moment the plan was announced. However, many of the details of the event have remained a mystery—including how many people will actually be able to attend.

That’s no longer the case.

The UFC White House card will go down this June, as part of the 250th anniversary of the United States. The Octagon is expected to be erected on the White House’s south lawn, which begged a lot of questions about how many people will be able to watch it live, especially when security concerns are considered.

While there has been some understandable worry that the event will only be attended by high-level government officials and billionaires, it sounds as though fans will indeed be able to attend—in the tens of thousands.

Dana White reveals attendance estimates for UFC White House card

Speaking to CBS, UFC CEO Dana White — a close friend and supporter of President Donald Trump — revealed that the plan is to have 5000 people on the White House lawn itself. These will be the people who can actual see the Octagon, and the fights within.

Meanwhile, the promotion is planning to invite a whopping 85,000 people to the park across the street. There, they will be able to watch the fights on large screens, and enjoy other entertainment like live music.

“We literally just got done going through all the logistics of how to set it up there, how many people we can have,” White said. “It’s looking like we’ll have 5,000 people live on the White House lawn. It will be on the south lawn and then across the street is the park, it’s called the Ellipse, I think, and we can have 85,000 people there.

“We’re going to have big screens and we’re going to have a stage, we’ll have music throughout the day,” White added. “We’re basically going to take over D.C. that whole week with lots of different things for fight fans. Then obviously a one-of-one event to be able to have it at the White House. Fighters will actually walk from the Oval Office to the Octagon.”

If White’s estimates are accurate, the UFC White House card will have one of the biggest crowds in the promotion’s history.

As for the fights themselves, the lineup is still a total mystery. That being said, the expectation is that there will be multiple title fights on the bill, involving some of the biggest stars in MMA history.