The White House South Lawn is being transformed as a live UFC venue packed with tens of thousands of fight fans, celebrity guests and military personnel under a giant steel lighting structure known as 'The Claw'.
What started as one of Donald Trump's more theatrical campaign-style remarks is now days away from reality. On 14 June, the US president's 80th birthday and Flag Day will collide with a full-scale UFC event staged directly outside the White House, complete with title fights, concerts and a crowd expected to exceed 90,000 people across the South Lawn and surrounding Ellipse.