The UFC Freedom 250 White House event will be one of a kind for a number of reasons. The best one is the outdoor environment for this event.
This event will take place on the South Lawn of the U.S. White House this sunday night. It is organized to celebrate the America’s 25th birthday next month. For the event, the UFC will have to make a makeshift venue as there is no usable venue directly around the iconic building.
Steve Garcia is set feature in the historic event as featherweight contender. Recently, he shared his experiences of fighting outdoors. It gave us a perspective of what to expect in the event.
He said, “I’ve fought outdoors twice. The first one was at night, so I dealt with the bugs and all that.”
“All the lights in the back had to get shifted forward to the [cage], and we had no light in the back to warm up. So we were blind. Everybody was with their phones, wrapping their hands and hitting pads with the lights from our phones, then we walked to the cage. People didn’t think about that. That was one instance. There are bugs and stuff, and it was at night, so it wasn’t terrible — maybe 75 degrees.”
“The second time was definitely hotter, maybe 85 degrees. … They had to continue to throw ice on the canvas. That’s probably the only thing I was nervous about — how well the Octagon is covered — because it got so hot that everybody was burning their feet on the canvas. They would just continue to throw tubs and tubs of ice all over the canvas, and have to sweep it up so nobody would slip and fall. It was a little bit of a craziness, if you will. Obviously, being in guard or on your back, you’re burning your back. Definitely not a fun way to fight.”
The 34 year champion has been on an absolute streak for the past seven flights, he won all of them. Six of those seven fights ended in knockouts.
He believes that things like this keep him motivated to fight and perform. He said, “We’re fighters. This is what we do.”
“If we were in the street and we were like, ‘Bro, it’s a little hot, maybe we should do this tomorrow,’ we don’t get that luxury. So we’re going to go out there and give it the best performance and shows we can give you guys, regardless of the circumstances.”
Over the years, he has been a constant entertainer with an impressive 19-5 record. Now his fight with DIego Lopez, a two time title challenger, would be one of the biggest fights of his life.
If Garcia manages to win this fight, he will be placed on the short list of potential title challengers to reigning UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
