US judge refuses to block UFC fight at White House event

A United States federal judge has declined to block a mixed martial arts fight from being held at the White House, allowing the administration to move forward with the event scheduled for President Trump’s birthday on Sunday.

US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled on Friday that plaintiffs challenging the event failed to adequately demonstrate the harm that would result from allowing the UFC match to proceed.

“In the context of an emergency application — and coupled with the fact that the UFC fight date was long ago known — it is fair to say Plaintiffs unreasonably delayed bringing suit, undercutting their claims of irreparable harm,” Mehta wrote.

A fighting ring has already been constructed at the White House, with the original purpose of celebrating the country’s upcoming 250th anniversary of independence in an event dubbed UFC Freedom 250.

The construction drew a lawsuit from the nonprofit Public Integrity Project, whose lawyers argued on behalf of an activist and a veteran of the US war in Vietnam that it would cause “aesthetic harms” through the erection of a 92-foot-tall (28 metre), 600-tonne steel structure referred to as The Claw on White House grounds.

They also suggested an improper closeness between the president and organisations and individuals who stand to benefit from the fight.

“The President’s administration is granting the UFC an extraordinary business opportunity it may not lawfully grant, and in exchange the UFC is throwing an event at which its leadership, fighters, advertisers, and various celebrities will all pay tribute to the President on his birthday,” plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote.

Mehta stated that the concerns about aesthetic harms were null since The Claw would be disassembled and removed starting on Monday.

“The President’s musings about permanency of the Claw does not move the dial in the face of a White House official’s clear representation,” the judge wrote.