The FBI has successfully stopped five terrorists who planned to hijack the UFC Freedom 250 fight that occurred Sunday at the White House.
According to Fox News, the five arrested terrorists were part of a larger network of up to 23 people who intended to use “explosive-laden drones to hit buildings near the event, force a mass evacuation, and steer crowds toward a pre-staged sniper team.”
A second wave of attackers was then supposed to storm the White House’s front gate.
According to FBI Director Kash Patel, the agency first became aware of the plot on June 10.
On June 10, FBI and our law enforcement partners became aware of a potential threat to the UFC America 250 event in Washington, D.C. involving individuals outside of the National Capital Region – and thanks to the rapid action of this FBI, our partners, and the Department of… pic.twitter.com/PbWkIk1Lr5
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) June 16, 2026
The first arrest was made in Cincinnati, where one suspect was reportedly taken into custody.
“Investigators later uncovered Signal chats in which multiple people allegedly discussed attacking the UFC event,” Fox News notes. “An initial review of one suspect’s iPhone identified at least 23 Signal users discussing pre-operational activity.”
Some of the attackers reportedly planned to travel to Fredericksburg, Virginia, ahead of the June 14 fight to prepare for the actual attack.
One of the suspects told the feds that their goal was to target “capitalist elites,” “billionaires,” and politicians who’d received donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
In his tweet seen above, FBI Director Patel thanked the FBI, Department of Justice, and law partners across 12 field offices for acting quickly to thwart this latest threat.
“Thanks to the rapid action of this FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody, and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold,” he wrote. “While the result represented the best of investigative work, it was also nothing out of the ordinary for this law enforcement team.”
“We are built to detect, respond to, and bring to justice those who threaten the lives of American citizens — particularly during large gatherings like the historic UFC 250 fight. That’s exactly what we did here,” he added.
Prior to Sunday’s UFC White House event, The Daily Beast, a left-wing site, predicted that the biggest threat to it would be bugs, citing an AccuWeather report.
“Warm weather and the metabolic rate of insects increases causing bugs to invade homes and gardens in search of food,” the report read. “With a rise in rain, notice an increase in mosquitoes, stink bugs, roaches, and termites.”
“Experts are warning that the heavily promoted UFC Freedom 250 event could be hit by an ‘extreme’ bug invasion as soaring temperatures, humidity and the threat of thunderstorms create ideal conditions for mosquitoes, gnats and other pests to descend on the South Lawn.”
DM
— Susan Becraft and Barney
#ZSHQ (@AliceTinker1943) June 14, 2026
The Daily Beast further noted that UFC boss Dana White had complained about all the bugs at the White House during a recent Rose Garden visit.
“He [President Donald Trump] invited me to dinner there,” he reportedly said. “The amount of gnats that are flying around, I’m like, ‘Holy s—!’”
He reportedly has a preference for indoor UFC events but made an exception just for President Donald Trump, his longtime friend.
“He ordered his production team to put in place custom coverings and contingency plans to handle rain, heat, and wind, while industrial fans and other measures could be used to deal with bugs,” The Daily Beast notes.
Top podcaster Joe Rogan also previously mentioned the bugs.
“I don’t like the idea of fighting outside at all,” Rogan said in a recent episode of his podcast. “June, and it’s D.C., and we looked it up last year: The same day was 100 degrees. Hot as f*ck. How about dehydration? The bugs are a big one. How the f*ck are they going to do anything about the bugs?”
“Dana was talking about that recently. They were talking about maybe using fans. Is that enough? You’re gonna get bug strips everywhere? What are you going to do? How are you going to stop the bugs? There’s a lot of bugs. Pesticide the sh*t out of the place? I just don’t think you should compete in a world championship fight in a non-controlled environment. It should be inside an air-conditioned arena. It should be a controlled environment,” he added.
