Dana White and the UFC have announced the card Saturday, March 7, after the UFC President promised that the UFC event to be held at the White House June 14 will be the greatest ever. The card was announced Saturday during UFC 326.
The event is officially called UFC Freedom 250.
The featured bouts will include:
- Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje, lightweight championship unification fight
- Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane, interim heavyweight championship fight
- Sean O'Malley vs. Aimann Zahabi, bantamweight fight
- Mauricio Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler, lightweight fight
- Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus, middleweight fight
- Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia, featherweight fight
Meanwhile, White has said that officials were up all night putting together the card for the event.
“It’s done,’’ he said on the UFC 326 broadcast. “We’re ready to roll. Here we come, Washington D.C.’’
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The event is set to take place on US President Donald Trump's 80th birthday. It will be held on the South Lawn of the White House. The temporary area will seat about 5,000.
{{/usCountry}}The event is set to take place on US President Donald Trump's 80th birthday. It will be held on the South Lawn of the White House. The temporary area will seat about 5,000.
{{/usCountry}}White has said that the Topuria-Gaethje fight headlining the card "should be explosive." Besides the lightweight unification fight, the event will also witness Pereira attempt to become a three-division champion.
‘He brought it up to me’
Last year, White revealed on Logan Paul's podcast that the White House event was Trump’s idea.
"I didn't ask — he brought it up to me," White said on ‘Impaulsive.’
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"When you walk around the White House with him, he's so proud of the White House, and he loves it so much and he loves America. He believes that the White House belongs to the people of America," White added. "He wants to do more things like kids coming in doing Easter egg hunts, things around Christmas and special events. … That's his thing. He wants to bring more Americans to the White House. His thing was, ‘This is your house.’ I was lucky he said, ‘We should do a fight here.’"
White further said at the time that the “fighters are gonna walk out of the Oval Office," confirming a rumor.