UFC Freedom 250: Follow all the action from extraordinary event on White House lawn in front of Donald Trump – with storm forecast causing havoc already

The UFC have done away with pre-lims tonight and simply stacked a seven-fight card with some brilliant match-ups, here they are in reverse order with the main event first:

Ilia Topuria vs Justin Gaethje

Alex Pereira vs Ciryl Gane

Sean O’Malley vs Aiemann Zahabi

Josh Hokit vs Derrick Lewis

Mauricio Ruffy vs Michael Chandler

Bo Nickal vs Kyle Daukaus

Diego Lopes vs Steve Garcia

The first round of the night has been won by… the weather.

Dana White often goes on about the reason he hates the idea of stadium fights is the unpredictability of the elements that can cause havoc with logistics.

Storm warnings have set the start time back by about an hour but of course that could still be pushed further or affect the situation deeper into the card with more adverse conditions expected later.

Well this is all a bit mad isn’t it?

I’ve done a few of these in my time but never did I imagine the UFC would be hosting one of their gladiatorial mega events from the White House itself. Plonk an octagon on the lawn and celebrate the aptly named UFC Freedom 250 – that fantasy plan of Dana White and Donald Trump becomes a reality tonight and we’re on hand to detail every star-spangled bit of it.