Authorities responds to go well with, says UFC Freedom 250 violates no legal guidelines

U.S. authorities attorneys declare the Division of Inside and the Nationwide Park Service violated no federal legal guidelines in permitting the UFC Freedom 250 card, which will likely be held on the South Garden of the White Home, to happen this weekend on federal property.

The declare is available in response to an emergency injunction software filed final weekend in District of Columbia federal courtroom by the Public Integrity Venture in an try to halt the occasion, which is Sunday.

The lawsuit claims the DOI and the NPS violated federal legislation by organizing a non-public sporting occasion on public property and failing to acquire congressional approval for the UFC’s buildings on federal land on the White Home and Lincoln Memorial, and that there was no environmental evaluation earlier than endeavor the constructing of the UFC’s “claw” stadium on the White Home.

The federal government disputed these claims and argued an injunction would hurt the defendants and its affiliated events (the UFC) due to “effectively over $60 million” spent and “tens of hundreds of hours of labor” expended in preparation of the occasion. This, the federal government argued, outweighs the plaintiffs’ hurt if an injunction just isn’t granted.

“This can be a determined last-ditch try to assault the celebration of America’s 250th Birthday by individuals who hate enjoyable,” United States Division of Justice senior media affairs supervisor Natalie Balassarre wrote in an e-mail to ESPN. “The Division will proceed to help these patriotic occasions.”

The federal government response additionally said the “plaintiffs’ delay is inexcusable” in submitting the case one week earlier than the occasion regardless of public data of UFC Freedom 250 for nearly a yr. The plaintiffs can file one other reply Wednesday night. Choose Amit P. Mehta can determine to listen to oral arguments Thursday earlier than rendering a choice on the injunction software.

Brendan Ballou, the lawyer for the Public Integrity Venture, instructed ESPN on Sunday that the go well with “just isn’t an assault on MMA within the slightest. That is an assault on the corruption that’s facilitating this occasion.” Ballou stated the go well with is about “a profound misuse of our sacred nationwide monuments for personal acquire.”

Within the authorities response, attorneys argued NPS laws “don’t prohibit occasions on the White Home South Garden” and as a substitute present notification that particular permits is not going to be issued. The preliminary go well with claimed UFC Freedom 250 was not being run or organized by an “government division or company” or one of many organizers of the USA’ 250th birthday celebrations.

The response said Sunday’s fights on the South Garden are being dealt with by the White Home Workplace of Govt Residence, not the NPS.

“The NPS’s position has been primarily facilitative with respect to the portion of the occasion on the South Garden,” wrote John Stanwich, the Nationwide Park Service liaison to the White Home, in a supporting assertion filed Tuesday evening. Stanwich stated his workplace has principally labored with the UFC’s third-party manufacturing corporations “to mitigate impacts to park sources and infrastructure” together with placing protecting mats beneath the brand new buildings.

The preliminary go well with additionally claimed that constructing the claw stadium wanted congressional approval. The federal government response described the claw as a short lived construction that, as such, did not fall underneath the code needing approval from Congress. The response said that the claw will begin to be disassembled at 10 a.m. Monday and all the UFC’s disassembly can be carried out by June 23.

The response supplied a number of examples of short-term buildings on the South Garden, together with an annual T-ball sport hosted by President George W. Bush and each a short lived ice skating rink and a coated live performance stage for occasions throughout President Joe Biden’s administration.

The preliminary go well with alleged that the environmental evaluation ought to have taken place earlier than any buildings have been constructed on the federal grounds. The response claims environmental assessments apply “solely to company actions, not the actions carried out by the White Home on the South Garden.”

Marisa Richardson, the top of the Nationwide Mall and Memorial Parks Division of Permits Administration, said in a supporting doc filed Tuesday evening that the environmental evaluation “had been accomplished on Could 14, 2026” for the opposite occasions on federal grounds.

The preliminary go well with claimed no particular occasions are allowed on the Lincoln Memorial aside from a ceremony honoring Lincoln’s birthday. The federal government’s response countered that the UFC is utilizing an space beneath the bottom of the memorial and the Reflecting Pool, the place occasions are allowed. The doc cited live shows held throughout inaugural occasions for Presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama and George W. Bush at an analogous space on the Lincoln Memorial.

“The deliberate actions across the Lincoln Memorial are comparable to numerous previous permitted particular occasions and demonstrations in the identical space,” Richardson wrote in her submitting.

The federal government submitting additionally included copies of the Nationwide Park allow software from UFC and its father or mother firm, TKO Group Holdings, on Nov. 5, 2025, and the approval on Feb. 25 for the occasions on the Lincoln Memorial, the Ellipse and the White Home. The allow approval did state the UFC’s choice was for the weigh-in to be on the Lincoln Memorial, with the Ellipse because the backup possibility.