00:00Construction crews have officially descended upon the White House,
00:03ahead of this year's big birthday bash for Donald Trump,
00:07a.k.a. UFC Freedom 250.
00:09That's according to images and videos now bouncing around social media,
00:13so it's really happening.
00:16Cranes on cranes at the White House today.
00:19Prepping for the UFC fight that will be held on the South Lawn in June
00:22and construction on the president's new ballroom,
00:25wrote NBC correspondent Julie Serkin on Twitter.
00:30With the June 14 events now less than three weeks away,
00:32America's most famous address is quickly transforming
00:35into a legitimate outdoor fight venue
00:37for a fight card that's pulling double duties
00:39as a political stunt and a combat sports spectacular.
00:44Last week, President Trump himself unveiled renderings of the setup
00:48highlighted by The Claw,
00:50an enormous lighting and canopy rig that was built in Europe
00:53and shipped stateside specifically for the event,
00:55because America first, except when it's second.
01:00He loves all of them.
01:02The main event features Georgian-Spanish lightweight champion,
01:05Ilya Tapuria, defending his title against America's only headliner,
01:08the two-time interim champion, Justin Gagey,
01:11who sounds very much like a man preparing to do what he does
01:14better than just about anyone.
01:18I'm here for a reason.
01:20I'm here because I'm one of the best in the world.
01:22I'm fighting a guy that is absolutely incredible,
01:25but I have a great coach and we're going to have a great plan, said Gagey.
01:29I'm going to change his face, just like I do to all my opponents.
01:34In the co-main, former two-time light heavyweight king Alex Pereira
01:38makes the jump to heavyweight to fight France's Cyril Garn for the interim title.
01:43And there's one heavyweight champion who will be watching every second of it very carefully,
01:48so long as he can see.
01:50That would be Tom Aspinall, who's been sidelined since Garn gouged both his eyes
01:54during their no-contest title fight.
01:56Fresh out of multiple surgeries, the champ already has a pretty firm prediction
02:00for how Pereira versus Garn is going to unfold.
02:06I want revenge against Garn, of course,
02:09but there's an argument to say that me and Pereira would be a bigger fight.
02:12I don't know, said Aspinall.
02:14I would say Garn, by points,
02:16I think he's just going to move too much for him and beat him in points.
02:22And just to get some more Americans up the card,
02:24the former bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley returns to face Canada's Eamon Zahabi.
02:29It's a match-up that should carry major title implications,
02:32but Sugar seems far more concerned with the official Freedom 250 apparel.
02:39I don't know if I'm even supposed to say, but they're ugly, O'Malley said on his YouTube channel.
02:44Mine were ugly, I don't like them.
02:47They're not pink, which is fine, whatever.
02:49I'll make my f***ing hair pink, whatever.
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