With days to go, lawsuit seeks to cancel Trump's UFC fight at the White House

A federal lawsuit seeks to cancel the Ultimate Fighting Championship evening ( UFC) to be held on the South Lawn of the White House on Donald Trump's birthday. The lawsuit was filed by the Public Integrity Project, a nonprofit organization, on behalf of a political activist and an Air Force veteran.

According to the lawsuit, filed in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, the event is "profoundly corrupt" as it would grant UFC unprecedented access to the White House to host a private show that would generate economic and promotional benefits for the company and its business partners.

Therefore, the plaintiffs are requesting that the event be suspended, arguing that the use of federal land for a UFC billboard would violate rules governing commercial and sporting activities on federal historic properties.

"The president is giving White and his company what none have enjoyed before: unfettered access to the White House and Lincoln Memorial to stage a private, for-profit sports event, with all the promotional and branding opportunities that accompany such access," the lawsuit states.

"Rather, UFC Freedom 250 is a private, for-profit sporting event being ‘planned, organized, and executed’ by the UFC, its broadcast partners, and its advertisers, not by the federal government. And it is not in any material sense a ‘celebration of the 250th anniversary of American Independence’—it is, instead, a celebration of the UFC’s brand and the 80th anniversary of Donald Trump’s birth," it adds.

On the other side, a White House official spoke to CBS News and rejected the merits of the lawsuit. Specifically, he called it "an obstructionist, baseless, and dilatory" attempt to prevent the president "from hosting what will undoubtedly go down as one of the most historic sporting events in our nation's history during our semiquincentennial celebration."

Who is confirmed for the UFC event at the White House?

A lightweight title unification fight between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje will headline the UFC Freedom 250 bill. The fight will be the main event of the evening. In addition, the co-main event fight will pit Brazil's Alex Pereira and France's Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight championship.

The event is scheduled for June 14, which coincides with the president's birthday.