As far as UFC CEO Dana White is concerned, nobody – no fighter, media member or anyone else for that matter – has received a ban from attending the upcoming UFC White House event.
That includes reigning UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland, who made headlines when he claimed that he was, indeed, banned from attending the event on Sunday night.
Set from the lawn of the White House, the card was put together by White and United States of American President Donald Trump to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the country.
Strickland, though, took to social media recently saying that he had been told he was not welcome to attend.
“The only male American champ banned at the White House because I said Trump is owned by (Benjamin Netanyahu),” Strickland on social media (thanks to MMA Fighting for the quotes). “That’s not public opinion, it’s fact.”
White, though, stated that is not true during a pre-fight press conference.
“Everybody’s banned apparently,” White said. “Of course, Sean Strickland isn’t (banned from attending).”
UFC CEO: Sean Strickland banned ‘from humanity’
White had jokes, adding that Strickland is “banned from humanity. We don’t want him near any human beings anywhere.
“(Expletive) shows up at Power Slap, he starts fights. He made it very clear he didn’t want to be part of this event and now apparently he’s banned,” White went on to say. “Nobody is banned. Nobody’s music is banned. No media members have been banned. The list goes on and on.”
One of the issues with the decision to hold the event at the White House is the small amount of tickets being made available. That is one of the reasons Strickland – among others – did not receive a formal invitation to attend.
UFC Freedom 205 features two title fights
The UFC White House card, also known as UFC Freedom 250, will be headlined by two championship matches.
In the main event, Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje collide to unify the UFC lightweight title. Topuria is the reigning champion while Gaethje holds the interim title.
Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane meet for the interim UFC heavyweight championship. Current division titleholder Tom Aspinall remains sidelined with an injury.
Sean O’Malley, a former UFC champion, takes on Aiemann Zhabai, Josh Hokit faces Derrick Lewis, Mauricio Ruffy fights Michael Chandler, Bo Nickal meets Kyle Daukaus and Diego Lopes battles Steve Garcia.
The entire card will stream live on Paramount+.
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