FBI thwarted plan to attack UFC White House with explosive drones, agency says

'UFC Freedom 250' event at the White House, in Washington D.C., in the United States, in the early hours of June 15, 2026.
Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via REUTERS
The FBI thwarted a plan to attack the UFC at the White House with explosive drones, the Associated Press news agency said on Tuesday (16).
According to court documents to which the AP had access, the plan allegedly involved the use of drones loaded with explosives to hit buildings close to the event to force a mass evacuation and direct the crowd to a team of strategically positioned snipers.
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The "UFC Freedom 250" fight took place in the early hours of Sunday to Monday (15) on the lawn of the White House, seat of the United States government, and was marked by celebrations of 250 years of US independence and also the anniversary of the President Donald Trump. Read more about the event here.
Trump republished this Tuesday on his social network Truth Social a report that talked about the foiled attack plan. North American TV Fox News first reported the information, and the AP later confirmed it.
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According to the AP, the plan involved 23 suspects, and five of them were arrested for being part of the network that planned the attack. The FBI told Fox News that the arrests took place in three different states, in Ohio, Missouri and Nebraska, and that the Secret Service cooperated with the federal agency in the case.
"In the days leading up to this weekend [of the UFC at the White House], our special agents, support and technical security teams worked day and night to identify those responsible and hold them accountable," Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in a statement to Fox.
According to the AP, one of the suspects arrested is named Tycen Proper, 19 years old. According to the criminal complaint, the young man had recently spent US$3,000 (about R$15,300) of his "graduation money" to buy "a lot" of ammunition, weapons, extra magazines and other items for the alleged attack.
Among the weapons seized by authorities are an AR family rifle, a light rifle painted with the US flag and boxes of ammunition with thousands of rounds, according to the agency.
Proper's parents told the FBI that the young man had He left his job to meet with people he met online to carry out "missions" and "reconnaissance", and who, worried, reported him to the authorities when they saw the weapons purchases, according to the criminal complaint.
According to the AP, investigators also discovered conversations on the Signal app in which several people had discussed attacking the UFC event. An initial analysis of a suspect's iPhone identified at least 23 Signal users discussing preparatory activities.
The FBI told the broadcaster that its investigation detected evidence that online rhetoric had evolved into operational planning. Although the ministry had doubts as to whether all phases of the plan would be successful if it were implemented, there was a consensus that the attack would likely result in several deaths.

Source: G1