UFC card at the White House will be led by Topuria-Gaethje, Pereira-Gane

  • Brett OkamotoMarch 7, 2026, 10:19 pm Eastern Time

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      Brett Okamoto has reported on mixed martial arts and boxing for ESPN since 2010. He has covered every major event in combat sports during that time, including in-depth interviews and features with names like Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Georges St-Pierre. He was also a producer of the film 30 for 30: “Chuck and Tito”, which examines the careers and rivalry of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lives in Las Vegas and is an avid below-average golfer in his spare time.

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The highly anticipated UFC live event at the White House will be headlined by a pair of title fights, the promotion announced Saturday night.

A lightweight title fight between undisputed champion Ilia Topuria and interim head Justin Gaethje will serve as the main event and two-weight UFC champion Alex Pereira will seek an unprecedented third belt against Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight championship in the co-main event.

UFC officials announced the matchups during the broadcast of UFC 326. The White House event, which the promotion has dubbed UFC Freedom Fights 250, will take place on June 14, which coincides with President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. The event also aims to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Four other fights will complete the White House event: a bantamweight fight between Sean O’Malley and Aiemann Zahabi; a lightweight fight between Mauricio Ruffy and Michael Chandler; a middleweight fight between Bo Nickel and Kyle Daukaus; and a lightweight fight between Diego Lopez and Steve Garcia.

Topuria (17-0), a 29-year-old native of Spain, is a two-weight champion and is widely considered one of the most dangerous knockout artists in the sport. He successfully moved up from featherweight last June and won the UFC 155-pound championship with a first-round knockout over Carlos Oliveira.

At the end of 2025, Topuria announced that he would be taking time off to address personal issues. With those issues behind him, he is set for his first title defense and, potentially, a future move to welterweight.

Gaethje (27-5), 37, will try to take advantage of his third opportunity to win a UFC title. He fought for the belt in 2020 and 2022 and came up short against the all-time greats in Khabib Nurmagomedov and Oliveira. Won the interim championship in Topuria’s absence in January by defeating Paddy Pimblett by unanimous decision in Las Vegas.

Gaethje is a two-time interim champion and an 18-year veteran of the sport. He lives and trains in Denver, but was born and raised in Safford, Arizona, a small mining community.

With Pereira and Gane set to fight for the interim title, undisputed UFC heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall (15-3), will retain his official title for now as he continues to recover from eye injuries suffered during his last appearance against Gane in October.

Pereira (13-3), of Brazil, is a former middleweight and light heavyweight champion. He became the UFC 185-pound champion in 2022 by knocking out Israel Adesanya and successfully became the light heavyweight champion a year later by defeating JiYí Procházka. Pereira handed over his 205-pound belt to Magomed Ankalayev in March 2025, but regained the belt in an immediate rematch in October.

Gane (13-2), of 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 considered an accidental blow to Gane’s eye. Gane is 10-2 overall in the UFC. His only losses came in championship fights against Francisco Ngannou and John Jones.

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