The Defense Department is imposing strict body composition standards on service members hoping to snag tickets to a UFC event scheduled for the White House South Lawn next month, according to a Pentagon memo reviewed by NBC News and two people familiar with the directive.
Military personnel who receive invitations must meet a waist-to-height ratio below 0.55 and pass all service-specific fitness test requirements, the memo states. The fitness threshold effectively disqualifies soldiers who fail to meet Pentagon body composition benchmarks, even if they secured a ticket through their command.
The decision reveals how seriously organizers are treating the optics of the event, which falls on President Donald Trump's 80th birthday on June 14. With only 4,000-plus seats available and demand far exceeding supply, Pentagon leadership appears willing to enforce appearance standards to curate the crowd.
Troop eligibility extends to uniformed service members from commands worldwide, but the Pentagon will not cover travel costs. The memo emphasized that "tickets must be distributed to genuine UFC fans, not solely by high-ranking distinguished visitors," signaling that fandom trumps rank in the selection process.
Attendees must wear short-sleeve dress uniform with military insignia and headgear for the outdoor, standing-room-only event. Commands have been instructed to employ "fair and transparent selection processes" when choosing which troops receive invitations.
The fitness requirement was first disclosed by the Washington Post on Friday. A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment when reached by NBC News about the criteria or the rationale behind imposing body composition thresholds for attendance.
Trump told NBC News earlier this month that high demand for the event made universal access impossible. "I'm going to make a lot of enemies because it's impossible to get everyone tickets," the president said in an interview.
The UFC fight represents a centerpiece of Trump's celebration of America's 250th anniversary. The president is personally selecting most of the spectators, according to reporting from NBC News, giving him significant control over who appears in photographs and footage from the South Lawn gathering.
Pentagon officials and UFC organizers have also debated whether attending troops should be classified as "deployed" for official purposes, mirroring the status troops received when participating in last summer's Army 250 parade. Those discussions have persisted for months among Defense Department leadership and event planners.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Conditioning standards for a sporting event highlight how the Pentagon has become as much about image management as military readiness."
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