The White House UFC arena isn't just a ring; here's the scale of it
A sprawling open-air UFC setup is taking shape on the White House South Lawn, revealing a design that appears far bigger than a standard fight-night arena.
The structure - taller than the White House itself - can already be seen towering over parts of the Washington DC area as construction has ramped up this week.
Here's a closer look at the size and setup of what's being built on the White House grounds.
How big is the UFC arena outside the White House?
The towering structure is 90 feet tall, towering over the 70-foot White House.
The rig, which is expected to support lighting, audio and video boards, is 120 feet by 120 feet on the ground across the South Lawn.
It's so large it has overtaken a large part of the South Lawn, normally used for major White House events, such as Easter Egg Roll festivities and Marine One landings.
Referred to as "The Claw," the structure was built by Stageco, a Belgium events services company, according to Sports Business Journal.
Before being laid out on the White House lawn, it was assembled and de-assambled in Warwick Township, Pennsylvania, during what officials called a trial run.
"No. 1, [it] was to make sure that we understood how the build would go. We got the timing down on how long it would take to build it out," Craig Borsari, UFC's executive vice president, executive producer and chief content officer, told SBJ. "It also was to be sure that the lighting fixtures that we wanted to place inside the claw arms in the trussing were going to be able to be mounted the way we intended, and that they would be able to be moved the way we need them to move, so we did that. ... It was just a really good time for us to get the teams together to look at it, make any final tweaks and then put [the pieces] on the trucks to send them to DC to build them for real starting on the 20th."
With room for about 5,000 spectators across the octagon ring, the sprawling setup resembles a large-scale concert production as much as a traditional UFC arena.
It's expected to spill beyond the arena grounds, with overflow viewing available on the White House Ellipse and National Mall for around 85,000 spectators, who can view the fights on video boards.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The White House UFC arena isn't just a ring; here's the scale of it
Reporting by Mike Stunson, USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect
This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 12:21 PM.