Breaking Down UFC at the White House to non-UFC Fans

Zak Drapeau
Jun 17
8 min read

by Zak Drapeau

Sportz Nation - 6/17/2026

Photo Credits to Kent Nishimura-Pool via Getty Images

White House Setting and Atmosphere

First things first, for all the hype that was surrounding this event from the fact that a lot of people considered it ludicrous, unpatriotic and a tax payer's worst nightmare... This will not only be 2026's Fight Card of the year but one of the best of all time.

The event started off in considerable panic when around 6:00 pm EST, (or 2 hour before the scheduled start time of UFC 250 Freedom) the weather in the area was in thunderstorm watch, raining and about 87 degrees. At about 6:30 pm EST, the event was delayed by 1 hour, then reported to start at 9:00 pm EST with reasonable thinking that it may get delayed even longer because of the weather.

The broadcast still started at 8:00 pm EST with announcers, entertainment and fans being shown to be excited. Not long after did we realize the event would not be delayed any longer and we were ready to go for the single most unique and intriguing sporting event in UFC history.

So how was this event different from the others?

To start, the event's main broadcast started with a long and theatric walk from the White House Oval Office to the South Lawn and Cageside by none other than UFC President Dana White and on his 80th birthday, President Donald Trump. The walk out is something we will probably see clips of for legitimately hundreds of years and was truly an iconic way to not only start the event, but give us a glimpse of what we would see for the rest of the night. The camerawork and setting surrounding the men were that of the White House rooms, the manicured lawns, hallways depicting former presidents and legislature and an overall overwhelming feel of Patriotism.

After this walkout, the event would be officially kicked off by the Zac Brown Band singing the National Anthem along with the "The President's Own" Marine Band that would be featured in almost all of the Walkout Theme Songs of the fighters for the event. The Marine band was immaculate all night including several renditions of hit pop songs like "Superstar" by Lupe Fiasco and "Ain't No Grave" by Johnny Cash.

While I will be talking about the fights more in the next section, another excellent touch for this event was that for each of the 14 fighters walks to the cage, they walked with a member of the U.S. military and a First Responder, giving respect and thanks to branches of military and police fitting for this event.

With the setting firmly in place and patriotism in the air and in our faces, let's get on to the actual show and the 7 fights that took place for this event.

Fight Card

For an additional in-depth breakdown of the fights rather than the aura they gave off which will be talked about here, check out Matt Hylen and my self's recent article, Matchmaking after UFC at the White House.

The card was set up with 7 fights spanning some of the very best fighters in the UFC and included arguably their 2 biggest global stars in Alex Pereira and Ilia Topuria in the Co-Main and Main Event respectively, both in title fights.

Throughout the 7 fights, no one suffered severe injuries which was a great touch that could have really darkened this event had it occurred. One fighter would have to leave in an ambulance after a particularly hard fight but that was less gruesome to see after the spectacle that fight turned out to be.

The event again saw 7 fights and incredibly, saw 7 fights stopped by technical knockout, a 100% stoppage rate that has never happened before.

Again for more of a real, hardcore UFC fan-fight breakdown go check out Matt and I's article, but for the most part I am going to focus on the Co-Main and Main Events. Starting with the penultimate fight which was between UFC superstar Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane for the interim-Heavyweight Title.

Co-Main Event

Photo Credits to Scott Taetsch via Zuffa LLC

Alex Pereira is the UFC's top, global superstar and most recognizable name along with being it's top draw in the sport. Pereira had only 12 fights in the promotion before this fight but has rose to fame because of his exciting, kickboxing style, stoic demeanor, championship pedigree and recent social media promotion.

Pereira held previously held title in two other divisions and was now attempting to become the UFC's 1st three-weight champions. In his way of this legendary feat was Ciryl Gane, a similarly experienced fighter and elite kickboxer who has been competing at Heavyweight for years. Gane came into this event as a former interim-Heavyweight champion and had a wealth of championship fights already.

This fight was, (in terms of betting odds) the closest fight on the card, with what's called a "pick 'em" being issued as neither fighter was a favorite and had the same -110 odds to win. Pereira was thought to be the harder and better striker but Gane had much more experience at Heavyweight.

The entrances were flamboyant and Pereira's had the added fireworks to his that made it clear who the UFC predicted and wanted to win. As the two men stared at each other before the fight started within the ring, all of the fans in attendance and everyone watching knew we were going to see someone's lights get turned out.

As it turned out, the fan and UFC's favorite would be the one to go down. Pereira never looked completely comfortable and took a few shots from Gane that seemed to surprise him. Midway in the 2nd round, Gane caught him a few times and the ref would stop the fight. Even though the odds were a pick 'em, this fight left a lot of people shocked at the outcome and stood alone as the one fight of the night that was still good, but maybe left a sour taste in most fan's mouths.

Main Event

Photo Credits to Jeff Bottari via Zuffa LLC

I'm about to make a strong statement. With everything surrounding this fight, from the uniqueness of the White House, to all the build on both fighters, to Ilia Topuria's rise to legendary status and talks of super fights in the future, to the past and tribulations of Justin Gaethje that led him to this fight, then the actual fight itself... this may have been the greatest fight in UFC history.

For those of you that don't know, the Main Event of UFC 250 Freedom was Ilia Topuria defending his Lightweight Championship and undefeated 17-0 record against interim-Champion Justin Gaethje. Ilia's accolades were starting to put him in GOAT territory and was known as pound-for-pound the best boxer in the sport, with previous knockout of legends and hall of famers on his way to becoming a two-division champion at only 29-years old.

His opponent is Justin Gaethje, a 2-time interim-champion and fan favorite in the ring. He holds the UFC record for most Fight-of-the-Night awards with 11 and together has accrued 17 post-fight awards in only 16 fights, making his style of fights extremely likable to fans. His personality also made him a star to fight fans as a beer-drinking guy who just loves to fight and wants to put on a show for us every time he goes out there. Justin has also been a known patriot and philanthropist to armed forces and first responders and often uses his fame to shout them out, give them respect and donate money. He also had a lot of retirement talks going into this fight at 38-years old.

We all sort of wanted to see Gaethje finally win the big one but also believed Topuria would knock him out in Rounds 1 or 2, with even betting odds all being around -500 for Topuria as a 5-to-1 favorite.

The fight was almost indescribable. Topuria started off throwing bombs but would quickly catch a few too as Gaethje came to fight and would win Round 1 with harder shots that left Topuria's face scarred early. The 2nd round would go to the Champion who dropped Gaethje twice and almost finished the fight both by knockout and submission, with devastating hooks to the body laying most of the ground work. When they headed to their corners for Round 3, we all thought it would be over soon.

Then Round 3 would become an instant classic as both men threw haymakers and landed several, but the hardest of the round and the fight would go to Gaethje as he dug deep into his soul as a true warrior, to grit out a painful and gusty round win that resulted in Ilia Topuria's eye being so swollen the doctors almost stopped the fight.

With Referee Marc Goddard not wanting to end this event and fight by doctor, as every fan was on the edge of their seat pleading with him to let this amazing fight go, the doctor finally conceded with a warning that Ilia needs to defend himself.

With every fan ecstatic with the continuation and ready to see Gaethje not only win a title but this incredible fight, another insane chapter was written as Topuria came out strong and arguably won the round. He would land beautiful shots, seemingly be more active and would even land the only takedown of the fight.

Unfortunately for the champ, that takedown would lead to his demise as a quick-thinking Gaethje would fight for position and within the final 5 seconds of the round, land a clean and hard knee to Topuria's left ribs.

As the horn sounded, Topuria was clearly holding his side and in distress. Within seconds of him getting to his corner and sitting on the stool, his corner would wave off the fight and Marc Goddard called an end by 4th Round Corner stoppage, declaring the winner.... "AAAAAAAND NEEEEEEEEEEEWWWW" Lightweight Champion to be Justin Gaethje.

Photo Credits to Chris Under via Zuffa LLC

For fight fans, very rarely if ever has such a perfect swarm of emotions led to a moment like this. Gaethje finally won the big one, not just by knocking out his opponent but by weathering the storm of one of the most feared fighters the UFC has ever seen. And to do it in such a warrior's spirit in the midst of one of the greatest fights ever while being a Main Event of what may go down as the single-best Fight cards ever was a moment of heroism, acclaim and profoundness that Gaethje truly deserves.

With this win Gaethje will always go down in UFC folklore and rightfully earn a Hall of Fame spot one day where he belongs.

In Summary

I mean what else is there to say? This card was attacked by politicians with lawsuits to not even be put on and widely criticized in media as being a shameful act on the United States' most prestigious of lands and it turned out to be a MASSIVE success.

Whether your political views align with this event or even Trump's presidency at all doesn't matter, this event was a showing of American spirit and toughness on a night that also showed pride in our Armed Forces and First Responders as well as incredible music and a reminder of our nation's honorable past.

As far as UFC fans are concerned this card was everything we wanted and more but even more than that, the UFC did the United States proud, (besides the whole Josh Hokit thing I've purposefully left out but you can google it if you don't know what I'm talking about.)