White House cedes press credentialing authority to UFC for Freedom 250 event

Typically, press looking to cover marquee events held at the White House receive credentials through the White House directly. Not this Sunday, however, when UFC Freedom 250 takes place on the White House South Lawn.

According to a report by Scott Nover in The Washington Post, the White House has ceded control of press credentialing to the UFC, and only reporters approved by the Dana White-run fighting promotion will be able to cover the event on premises. Only reporters from the White House press pool, the limited group of journalists that cover the president when it isn’t feasible to credential a larger group, will be on-site to cover proceedings for the numerous D.C. outlets wishing to cover the event.

The move breaks from longstanding precedent regarding press access for events held at the White House. The White House Correspondents’ Association has sought to secure greater access for the press corp to no avail.

“The WHCA has been pushing back on this, but we have been told there will be various Secret Service access points across campus and that the [White House North Lawn] is being used as a staging area for the fighters and UFC filming zone, and the [White House] is standing firm,” White House Correspondents’ Association president Weijia Jiang emailed members.

In addition to not being able to access the UFC event on the South Lawn, reporters will also lose access to the White House briefing room, the designated press workplaces within the White House, and the area on the North Lawn known as “Pebble Beach” where networks setup live shots.

White House reporters seeking access to the event will now have to go directly through UFC, which is only awarding a “very limited number” of credentials for reporters directly on the South Lawn, per Jiang’s email. Other credentialed journalists will be placed in the Ellipse or JW Marriott hotel nearby.

In response to The Washington Post, White House spokesperson Olivia Wales called the report “fake news,” adding that the White House is expanding the press pool for the event.

This is fake news.

The White House Press Office has credentialed a press pool of 35 members for this historic event on Sunday – expanded from the normal press pool of 21 members.

The pool will be providing full coverage on the South Lawn for the duration of UFC Freedom250. https://t.co/SuAP3CEVJv

— Olivia Wales (@olivia_wales) June 9, 2026

The move to bar White House reporters from their normal work areas, albeit temporarily, is nevertheless notable. Logistically, if a major news event were to happen during the UFC card, none of the White House press corp would be onsite to gather information, talk with administration officials, or attend a press briefing. While this is certainly no Pentagon situation, there’s an understandable sensitivity among the Washington press after Secretary Pete Hegseth’s effective banishment of all major news outlets from that building last year.

Of course, there’s also an interesting security angle to all of this. Surely, there must still be screening protocols in place for credentialed reporters, but it would appear as if UFC has final say over which members of the press get access to the South Lawn.

No matter the particulars, Sunday’s event will be another data point in a long list of abnormal treatment of the press by the current administration.

This post has been updated to include a response from the White House and clarify the arrangements for credentialing to Sunday’s UFC event.