UFC Announces Main Card at the White House
The UFC live event at the White House, highly anticipated by fans, will feature two championship fights on the main card, the promoter announced Saturday night.
The main event will be a lightweight title fight between the undisputed champion, Ilia Topuria, and the interim champion, Justin Gaethje. In the co-main event, two-time UFC champion Alex Pereira will seek an unprecedented third belt as he faces Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight championship.
The fights were announced during the broadcast of UFC 326. The event at the White House, called UFC Freedom Fights 250, will take place on June 14, coinciding with the 80th birthday of former President Donald Trump. The event also celebrates the 250th anniversary of the United States.
The White House’s fight card will be completed with four additional fights:
- A bantamweight fight between Sean O’Malley and Aiemann Zahabi.
- A lightweight bout between Mauricio Ruffy and Michael Chandler.
- A middleweight fight between Bo Nickal and Kyle Daukaus.
- A featherweight bout between Diego Lopes and Steve Garcia.
Topuria (17-0), 29 years old and from Spain, is a two-division champion and widely regarded as one of the most dangerous knockout artists in the sport. He successfully moved up from featherweight in June and won the UFC 155-pound championship with a first-round knockout over Charles Oliveira.
At the end of 2025, Topuria announced that he would take some time off to deal with personal matters. With those matters resolved, he is ready for his first title defense and, potentially, a future move to welterweight.
Gaethje (27-5), 37 years old, will try to take advantage of his third opportunity to win a UFC title. He fought for the belt in 2020 and 2022, but fell short against Khabib Nurmagomedov and Oliveira. He won the interim championship in Topuria’s absence in January by defeating Paddy Pimblett by unanimous decision in Las Vegas.
Gaethje, two-time interim champion and 18-year veteran of the sport, lives and trains in Denver, but was born and raised in Safford, Arizona, a small mining community.
With Pereira and Gane ready to fight for the interim title, the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall (15-3), will hold his official title for now while he continues to recover from the eye injuries suffered during his last appearance against Gane in October.
Pereira (13-3), from Brazil, is a former middleweight and light heavyweight champion. He became the UFC 185-pound champion in 2022 by knocking out Israel Adesanya and became the light heavyweight champion a year later by defeating JiYí Procházka. Pereira relinquished his 205-pound belt to Magomed Ankalaev in March 2025, but regained the belt in an immediate rematch in October.
Gane (13-2), from France, is a former interim champion. He challenged Aspinall for the official belt in October, but the fight ended in a no-contest after Aspinall was unable to continue due to injuries sustained from what was deemed an accidental eye poke by Gane. Gane has an overall record of 10-2 in the UFC. His only losses have been in championship fights against Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones.
