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Brett Okamoto
multiple authors
UFC’s highly anticipated live event at the White House will be headlined by two title bouts, the promotion announced Saturday night.
Lightweight title fight between undisputed champions Ilya Topuria and interim title holder Justin Gaethje Main event and will serve as two-weight UFC champion alex perera Will seek an unprecedented third belt against Cyril Gane For the Interim Heavyweight Championship in the co-main event.
UFC officials announced the matchup during the UFC 326 broadcast. The White House event, which the promotion has dubbed UFC Freedom Fights 250, is scheduled to take place on June 14, which coincides with President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. The event is also to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.
Four other bouts will take place during the White House event: a bantamweight bout between sean o’malley And Aiman Zahabi; light competition between mauricio rafi And michael chandler; A middleweight bout between bow out And kyle daukaus; And a featherweight fight in between diego lopez And steve garcia.
Topuria (17-0), a 29-year-old Spain native, is a two-weight champion and is considered one of the most dangerous knockout artists in the sport. He successfully moved up to featherweight last June and won the UFC’s 155-pound championship with a first-round knockout. Charles Oliveira.
At the end of 2025, Topuria announced that he would be taking some time off to deal with personal issues. With these matters behind him, he is ready to make his first title defense and potentially make a future move to welterweight.
Gaethje (27-5), 37, will try to take advantage of his third opportunity to win a UFC title. They battled for the belt in 2020 and 2022 and fell short against the all-time greats Khabib Nurmagomedov And Oliveira. He claimed the interim championship in January by defeating Topuria in his absence. paddy pimblett Via 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 preparing to fight for the interim title, the UFC’s undisputed heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall (15-3), will retain his official title for now as he continues to work on recovering from eye injuries suffered during his last appearance against Gane in October.
Brazil’s Pereira (13-3) is a former middleweight and light heavyweight champion. He becomes UFC 185-pound champion by knockout in 2022 israel adesanya And a year later became the Light Heavyweight Champion by successfully defeating jiyi prochazka. Perera surrenders his 205 pound belt Magomed Ankalev in March 2025 but regained the belt in an immediate rematch in October.
Gennes (13-2), of France, is the former interim titleholder. He challenged Aspinall for the official belt in October, but the bout ended in a no contest as Aspinall was unable to continue due to injuries sustained from an accidental eye poke by Gane. Gane is 10-2 overall in the UFC. Their only defeats have come in championship matches Francis Ngannou And john jones.
