Dana White rejected the theory that military weather technology redirected a storm away from the White House before UFC Freedom 250.
The question came during a video interview after severe weather had threatened the outdoor Washington, D.C. event. White said the UFC, President Donald Trump and military meteorologists had expected the storm to reach the site.
Did the U.S. government use secret military weather technology to redirect a storm headed for the @WhiteHouse before the @UFC Freedom 250 event in June?
@danawhite is putting the conspiracy theory to bed!
White Says The UFC Prepared For A Direct Hit
White first joked about longtime friend Skipper Kelp, whom he described as a committed conspiracy theorist:
“One of my longtime friends, his name is Skipper Kelp. He does the scoring on Zuffa Boxing for us. The biggest conspiracy theorist I’ve ever met in my life. Every night we go to dinner, I got to listen to this crazy s— that he comes up with and all this stuff. So, I’m sure Skip probably believes that we used some, you know, some secret military stuff to break up the storm.”
White then denied the claim and explained the weather preparation:
“I can promise you that did not happen. We thought it was hitting us. The president thought it was hitting us, and Cocky Craig was, like, hand in hand working with the military. You know, we weren’t using, like, the Channel 4 weather guy. We had military meteorologists all over this thing, and this guy was telling us we’re going to get hit.”
He returned to the theory after the interviewer noted that some viewers would remain unconvinced:
“No, no, they’re never going to. Skip doesn’t believe me. He’s right here. He was there. He doesn’t believe it. Yeah, listen, the conspiracies — I get how these things happen and how they start, right? There was absolutely no military, you know. We thought we were getting hit.”
White said the event team expected equipment to be exposed to the storm:
“If you watch the documentary, the whole team is out there, like, battening down the hatches and, like, getting everything ready because we know we’re going to get hit. Stuff’s going to get damaged. Everything’s going to get wet. So, we were just ready to roll with however it went. And then the storm splits right around the White House.”
White’s complete interview, including the weather discussion beginning around 9:35, is below:
During the same interview, White also called Ian Machado Garry Makhachev’s most dangerous UFC 330 challenger.
UFC Freedom 250 was staged outdoors at the White House in June. The weather plan had made lightning the principal interruption risk, while rain and wind were conditions the production expected to manage. MiddleEasy’s UFC Freedom 250 archive includes the event’s other logistical and business developments, including TKO’s disclosure that the White House production generated an estimated $30 million loss.
