WH South Lawn Adds UFC Arena to Its Colorful History
Towering above the White House, the 92-foot-tall “Claw” hovering above the fight ring is taller than the actual executive mansion. Scaffolding under the mixed martial arts arena holds up roughly 4,000 seats. The octagon itself is bedecked with ads from corporate sponsors, including Polymarket, the law firm Morgan & Morgan, nicotine pouches, crypto companies, and Bud Light. At night, beams of light from the structure shoot across the Washington skyline, visible for miles around.
Sunday’s Ultimate Fighting Championship match will be unlike any previous presidential birthday party. But it’s also not unusual for presidents to bring their personal hobbies and interests to White House grounds. Since the mansion’s construction, there has never been just a single purpose for the South Lawn. And every president has had a different idea for how to use his back yard.
Building projects
The South Lawn started out as a very practical endeavor. Food for the first family was not included in White House services, so the John Adams administration planted a vegetable garden to help feed the family. Thomas Jefferson did not like the grandiose setting and thought the executive should be more humble, so he reduced the size of the grounds and opened them up for public events for the first time. He also built a stone wall around the building to keep animals out and added more gardens. Nearly every president after had a different take on how to use the space.
President Andrew Jackson was a fan of citrus and built an orangery, which President Franklin Pierce later expanded into a greenhouse. President James Buchanan demolished the orangery to make space for the Treasury Department, but he did build a new glass conservatory on the west side of the lawn. President Ulysses S. Grant built a billiard room between the greenhouse and the mansion because he was not allowed to bring what was considered an undignified game into the residence.
Entertainment
The United States Marine Band began playing weekly public concerts on the South Lawn during John Tyler’s presidency. President Abraham Lincoln particularly enjoyed watching from the South Portico. First lady Mary Todd Lincoln canceled concerts after the death of their son Willie in 1862. The following year, the public were growing discontent with the lack of music, particularly ahead of July 4, 1863; the secretary of the Navy resumed the concerts in Lafayette Park, with President Lincoln’s permission. The Lincolns also began an informal practice of inviting children for an Easter egg roll on the lawn, but President Rutherford B. Hayes made it a tradition.
The Johnson administration first brought a Ferris wheel to the White House South Lawn, offering rides on the wheel, ponies, and a carousel. The Clinton administration brought the Ferris wheel out of retirement for a picnic for members of the press, and it often hosted carnival-style events for congressional and press events. Trump also used a carousel and a Ferris wheel for the annual congressional picnic during his first term.
President Jimmy Carter installed a temporary ice rink on the South Lawn in 1980 for Olympic figure skater Peggy Fleming to perform for the first family and guests. President Ronald Reagan invited The Beach Boys to perform on the South Lawn in defiance of his Interior secretary, who banned rock bands and their accompanying “undesirable element” from the National Mall. The band had scheduled an Independence Day concert, but Reagan, an avid fan, stepped in and invited them to play at the White House for an event with Special Olympics athletes.
Animals
Plenty of precocious children in the first family kept their pets on White House grounds, including but not limited to Tad and Willie Lincoln’s pet goats and the Coolidge family’s pet raccoon, Rebecca. The raccoon was a Thanksgiving gift from a supporter, and the family decided to domesticate her. She lived in a specially built tree house on the South Lawn. During the Woodrow Wilson administration, a flock of sheep lived on the grounds as the permanent lawnmowers after most of the groundskeeping staff left to serve in World War I. Their wool was donated to the Red Cross for knitting projects.
Sports
President George W. Bush launched the White House Tee Ball Initiative and hosted annual games with Little League teams from across the country. The National Park Service built a $30,000 running track on the South Lawn for President Bill Clinton’s weekly runs, but he didn’t use it very much; despite Secret Service pleas to remain on the grounds, Clinton preferred running along the National Mall roughly three times per week. President George W. Bush had the track paved over.
Some administrations even merged the federal branches of government in the name of exercise and good sport. President Herbert Hoover convened a group of Supreme Court justices and members of the Cabinet every morning around 7 a.m. to play a mishmash of volleyball and tennis with a medicine ball, in what he dubbed “Hoover Ball.” The team was called the Medicine Ball Cabinet.
The UFC event on Sunday isn’t even the first time blood will (likely) be shed on the grounds. President Theodore Roosevelt held boxing matches on the grounds with anyone willing to go up against the commander in chief. The practice ended after an artillery captain punched the president so hard it detached his retina and left him blind in one eye.
America at 250
On Sunday, the South Lawn will adopt another function, this time as a UFC arena to commemorate Trump’s 80th birthday and 250 years of the United States of America. It’ll be a litany of firsts for the event. The national anthem will be sung for the first time to open a fight (the tradition is not standard for this particular sport). There will be a record seven matchups. UFC fights are also rarely held outdoors these days. Instead of filling an indoor stadium with tens of thousands of fans, the fighters will compete in front of only around 4,000 in the outdoor arena.
Washingtonians have complained about seeing the claw and its beaming lights for miles around, but the height serves an important purpose for UFC CEO Dana White: keeping the White House visible. Unlike other arenas, the structure does not cover up views of either the White House or the Washington Monument. Unfortunately, it also means that the seating is uncovered. Both high temperatures and rain are forecast throughout Sunday. But White, who has spent $60 million on the event, said the fight will continue regardless of weather.
The structure is only scheduled to host Sunday’s fight, but Trump noted that the Eiffel Tower was also supposed to be a temporary exhibition.
“You know, we’re building something in front of the White House that’s quite attractive to a lot of people,” Trump said in a TikTok video posted to his account. “And I’m looking at it, and maybe we’ll never, ever take it down.”