UFC White House card avoided planned terror attack after FBI intervention

The FBI have released a statement with terrifying details of a foiled terror attack at the UFC White House event on Sunday.

UFC Freedom 250, the biggest event in UFC's history, took place on the South Lawn of the White House and featured a total of seven blockbuster fights.

Celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States' freedom, the event happened on Donald Trump's 80th birthday and reportedly cost the UFC a whopping $60 million to put on.

Around 4,300 people were present, including VIPs and celebrities and more than 1000 members of the military who had to adhere to strict body composition regulations.

There was also a large screening at The Ellipse, where around 85,000 free tickets were available to the general public.

While the spectacle was a roaring success, it has now emerged that there were plans for a terror attack during the historic event.

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Officials told Fox News that they were able to thwart a planned out plot where 'explosive-packed drones' would hit buildings close to the White House.

According to the information, the idea was to force a mass evacuation and send crowds into a nearby sniper team who were in position.

A second wave was also planned and included storming the White House gate, the frightening report added.

The FBI became aware of the threat days before and worked closely with the U.S Secret Service and other partners. Five people, said to be American citizens, were in custody as of Monday - including a 19-year-old suspect.

23 people were identified as being involved in a potential network of plotters, with the investigation involving more than

FBI and Secret Service comment after terror attack claims

Commenting in the attempt being thwarted in a post on X, FBI director Kash Patel said: "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 Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold.

"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.

"I want to thank our great agents and partners. This work remains ongoing, and we will continue to update the public as permitted."

Following up with another statement, Secret Service Director Sean Curran said: "In the days leading up to this weekend, our special agents, mission support personnel, and technical security teams worked around the clock to identify those responsible and hold them accountable.

"Equally important to our protective mission is ensuring accountability through the justice system. To that end, our formal comments regarding the specifics of this case will be made through court filings."

A search of one of the suspect's iPhone found a minimum of users operating on encrypted chat app Signal discussing the alleged plans.

The review also uncovered that members of the group were allegedly preparing to travel to Fredericksburg, Virginia, on June 12 or 13 for preparations.

One of the suspects is reported to have told investigators that the motive behind the attack was to target capitalist elites, billionaires or politicians who received sums of money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Responding, Vice President JD Vance called the reports "very, very dark stuff" "and added that "this is what happens when people turn the rhetoric up so loud that disagreeing with somebody is a cause for violence".