UFC Freedom 250: Unpredictable Night Ahead at White House

Breaking from the UFC's usual schedule, UFC Freedom 250 offers fight fans a seven-fight card on a Sunday night, set against the historic backdrop of the White House.

The event features two title bouts, with Ilia Topuria set to meet Justin Gaethje in a lightweight title unification fight as the night's headlining attraction.

Alex Pereira will also try to make UFC history and claim a third belt when he faces Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title in the co-main event.

The remaining five fights all carry various stakes for their respective divisions, promising an unpredictable night of action.

Officially, the broadcast is set to kick off on Paramount+ at 8:00 p.m. ET, but the first fight between featherweights Diego Lopes and Steve Garcia has already been pushed back to 9:00 p.m. ET due to weather conditions.

The UFC and its staff on site have a plan in place, but it's unclear exactly how things may look if the start of the event has to be delayed and/or any mid-card breaks end up being required due to the weather.

A typical UFC broadcast budgets out around a half hour per fight for preliminary bouts and non-title fights on the main card, but both the weather and the short slate of seven fights could significantly influence that.

Some fans may be looking to tune in just for the title bouts at the top of the bill, given the significance of those fights and the fact that they feature two of the UFC's biggest stars in Topuria and Pereira.

Based on the number of preceding fights, a normal streamlined UFC broadcast would likely see the co-main event walkouts from Pereira and Gane take place around 11:00 p.m. ET, but that was before the first fight was pushed back to 9:00 p.m. ET due to the weather.

Working within that timeline, Topuria and Gaethje likely won't start heading to the cage until at least around midnight ET. However, fans aren't quite sure what to expect in between fights at the White House.

The pacing of UFC Freedom 250 may also be influenced by finishes in the early part of the card, but for now, the main concern for fans and promotional brass seems to be if the weather could potentially derail the event.