Hell or high water, the UFC Freedom 250 stays put. While it remains mired in a string of controversies, including a recent lawsuit, Dana White and his team appear determined to push back against any challenges, including those posed by Mother Nature.

Speaking with reporters, the UFC CEO acknowledged the hurdles the much-anticipated card faces, especially since this period brings intense heat and thunderstorms to Washington, D.C. However, to tackle those challenges, his team has come prepared, taking measures that will allow the event to proceed from the opening bout to the main event.

“I mean, if you read the internet, the f–king whole show is getting shut down on Sunday. But I don’t care if it snows, rains, or whatever. We’re going,” White told reporters. “And even lightning, you know, you guys all played, you know, sports when you were growing up. Whenever there was lightning, you’d sit the lightning out, and then when it was over, you played. I mean, that’s what we’ll do. If there were lightning, we’d know it days before. So, and then we will work around it.”

Dana White’s comments come as Washington D.C. experiences warm, humid weather in June, with occasional rain and thunderstorms caused by the interaction of different weather systems. The city’s climate, along with long daylight hours, can make outdoor activities feel particularly hot and uncomfortable, forcing people to stay hydrated, wear breathable clothing, and take breaks from the heat when needed.

Those concerns are not entirely hypothetical. Last year, the US capital witnessed a characteristically warm and humid June with intermittent rainfall and occasional heavy thunderstorms emerging throughout the month.

But weather is not the only challenge the UFC faces. Staging an event reportedly costing $60 million comes with several other risks, including logistical ones. Still, White and his team appear prepared for those as well.

As an example, White pointed to comments made by UFC Chief Content Officer Craig Borsari, explaining how the promotion has gone into minute detail to prepare for potential disruptions, including issues involving the Octagon canvas itself.

“And Borsari is like, ‘Yeah, I have three, you know, canvases, so anything that goes wrong, we’ll rip that canvas off and put another one on.’ I mean, just everything that you could possibly think that could go wrong, we’re ready for,” White said. “We were ready for the lawsuit. We knew that was coming. We’re ready for all this stuff.”

That level of preparation extends beyond equipment. UFC officials are closely monitoring weather forecasts ahead of the Washington D.C. event, receiving regular updates and maintaining plans to adjust the show’s timing if conditions become unsafe.

As critics circle, UFC doubles down on contingency planning

Lighting and strong winds are considered the biggest risks because they could require an evacuation. To prepare for any disruptions, the UFC has also arranged multiple backup locations for its broadcast operations.

The scrutiny surrounding those issues helps explain why White faced repeated questions about weather and logistics.

Looking within the UFC itself provides part of the answer, as the promotion’s long-time color commentator Joe Rogan recently criticized the idea of staging an outdoor event, citing concerns ranging from dehydration and heat to insects. In his view, an event of such magnitude would have been better suited to a controlled environment.

Against that backdrop, it’s easy to understand why the UFC has emphasized contingency planning.

One example is the presence of backup fighters. If reports are accurate, the promotions have already taken steps in that regard by putting Arman Tsarukyan and Mauricio Ruffy on standby to replace the headliners Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje, if necessary.

It was in April 2010, in Abu Dhabi, when the UFC last staged an outdoor event. With 16 years having passed and this being only the promotion’s second such venture, there is little reason to believe the UFC would leave obvious gaps in its planning. While nothing went haywire back then, things could be different this time around.

Whether critics agree with the experiment or not, Dana White and his team appear intent on ensuring that every foreseeable scenario has already been accounted for.