Architecture officials in Paris are locked in a bitter dispute with Donald Trump's development team over a proposal to transform the Eiffel Tower into a UFC fight venue. Sources close to the French heritage board confirm that plans submitted by the Trump Organisation would see the monument's iconic lattice structure reinforced with steel framing, a move that British structural engineers have condemned as 'reckless' and 'dangerous'.
Uncovered documents reviewed by this newsroom reveal Trump's vision: an octagonal cage suspended 200 feet above the Champ de Mars, where headline bouts would be broadcast globally. The project, dubbed 'Eiffel Fight Night', is estimated to cost £450 million. However, engineers at the Institution of Structural Engineers in London have warned that the additional load could destabilise the tower's ageing ironwork.
'I've seen the plans. They call for a 40-tonne steel platform bolted to the second level. That's insane,' said a senior engineer who spoke on condition of anonymity. 'The Eiffel Tower was never designed for that kind of dynamic loading. One heavyweight bout and you're looking at fatigue fractures.'
Internal emails from the Trump Organisation show that the team pressed ahead despite a preliminary report from a Parisian architecture firm flagging 'serious structural concerns'. The report, dated May 2023, warned that the platform would 'exceed permissible stress limits' and recommended a full wind-tunnel test. No such test was conducted.
French culture minister Rima Abdul Malak has called for an emergency review, telling reporters that 'the integrity of our national treasure is non-negotiable'. Meanwhile, Trump's representatives have dismissed the safety fears as 'establishment whining' and insisted the project is '100 per cent safe'.
But the British engineers are not backing down. A group of nine professors from Imperial College London and Cambridge University have co-signed a letter to the French government, stating that the proposal 'defies basic principles of structural mechanics'. They point to a 2019 study which found that the tower's wrought-iron structure already experiences micro-fractures under normal wind loads. 'Adding a moving crowd and the vibrations from combat sports is a recipe for disaster,' the letter reads.
The row has exposed a deeper tension: the clash between heritage protection and Trump's brand of spectacle. Parisians have begun protesting, with one group chaining themselves to the tower's base. 'This isn't about safety. It's about selling our soul for a few dollars,' said protester Camille Durand.
As the battle escalates, the British engineering community has offered to provide independent safety assessments pro bono. 'We're not anti-American. We just want to stop a catastrophe,' said the anonymous engineer. 'If they go ahead, someone is going to die.'
