The U.S. federal government fired back against a lawsuit aimed at halting the upcoming UFC Freedom 250 event in Washington, D.C., arguing that the legal action arrives far too late to be valid.
The Department of Justice, arguing on behalf of the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior, said in a response filing that the original complaint from the Public Integrity Project fails on several fundamental grounds.
The legal battle surrounding UFC Freedom 250 is unfolding as the mixed-martial arts promotion has spent more than $60 million and about a year of planning to develop Sunday’s spectacle on the South Lawn of the White House.
“All these hopes could be dashed at the very last moment, however, by the whim of [plaintiffs] who believe they have superior taste and want to spoil the event for everyone else,” the Department of Justice wrote in its brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “A more starkly mismatched balance of harms would be difficult to conceive.”
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
