A newly filed lawsuit is hoping to prevent UFC and Donald Trump’s biggest collaboration to date, just days before it’s scheduled to kick off.
A lawsuit recently filed in the District of Columbia federal court is attempting to put in place an emergency order that would block UFC from hosting its “Freedom 250” card at the White House South Lawn in Washington, D.C., this Sunday, calling the event a “corrupt scheme.”
The lawsuit disputes the legality of the event and calls into question President Trump’s business ties to the MMA card.
Filed by Vietnam veteran Paul Romano and activist Susan Douglas, represented by the Public Integrity Project, the lawsuit considers the event a “corrupt scheme to hand the White House South Lawn and Lincoln Memorial to a private, for-profit sports promoter,” per a press release.
The lawsuit points out that Trump recently disclosed a purchase of $15,500 to $50,000 in stock of TKO Group Holdings, UFC’s parent company. Doing this purchase months before Freedom 250, an event that UFC has said will be a huge marketing event for them, shows that Trump is directly benefiting from the event, they argue in the suit.
“UFC Freedom 250 is being held for the financial benefit of the UFC, Paramount, and their advertisers, and to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Donald Trump’s birth,” they said in the complaint, noting that the event will fall on Trump’s birthday, which is the same day as the Flag Day holiday in America.
On top of corruption allegations, the lawsuit alleges that the event is unlawful due to where it is being held.
They allege that the event violates National Park Service agreements, which prohibit sporting events from being held on federal parklands. They also said that the stage setup on the White House South Lawn, which has been constructed over the past few weeks, didn’t receive the required congressional authorization.
The lawsuit worries that damages to the South Lawn following the event will fall on taxpayers.
A representative of the Trump administration responded to these claims through a statement sent to ESPN. They said the lawsuit was “obstructionist, baseless and dilatory,” and claimed the upcoming event is no different than the various other White House-hosted events on the South Lawn and properly permitted events on the Ellipse and National Mall throughout the year.”
As it stands, UFC still plans to host a seven-fight card on the White House South Lawn this Sunday. The card is scheduled to be headlined by a UFC Lightweight Championship match between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje.
