Almost every fighter on the entire UFC roster has asked to compete at the upcoming White House card in June but the actual matchmaking for the historic event is finally about to begin.
After settling on the logistics for the outdoor event, which is taking place on the south lawn of the White House with approximately 5,000 people in attendance, UFC CEO Dana White revealed recently when he plans to start booking fights. While the highly anticipated event has been talked about for months, the UFC hasn’t actually planned any fights for the card due to timing because there are still plenty of other events that need finalized first.
But White says matchmaking for the UFC White House event is rapidly approaching.
“So I have Zuffa Boxing on 23rd of this month, the 24th is UFC and as soon as those two fights are over, I start working on the White House fight,” White told Stephen A. Smith on his podcast.
There have been a multitude of teasers about who might end up fighting at the White House with lead UFC commentator Jon Anik speculating that the show could feature numerous title fights.
Conor McGregor has obviously also effectively built his return to action around competing at the White House as he looks to fight for the first time since 2021 when he suffered a gruesome broken leg in his trilogy against Dustin Poirier. To prepare for his return, McGregor got back into the UFC’s anti-doping program and he’s already started his training camp while taking a step back from his outside business such as serving as a co-owner and face for BKFC.
McGregor expects to finally clash with Michael Chandler on the card but the UFC hasn’t actually confirmed either fighter for the event.
As of now, only two undisputed champion in the UFC have fights booked with Kayla Harrison defending her bantamweight title against Amanda Nunes at UFC 324 and Alexander Volkanovski rematching Diego Lopes for the featherweight title at UFC 325. The other two title bouts announced include the interim lightweight title fight between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett and Max Holloway defending his “BMF” belt against Charles Oliveira at UFC 326 in March.
That leaves a whole lot of champions available if the UFC wants to place multiple title fights at the White House.
For now, let speculation begin but White says this entire event is only happening because President Donald Trump is championing the UFC like past presidents have done with other sports.
“When you think about sports, [George] Bush was a big baseball fan,” White said. “[Barack] Obama [loves] NBA. Trump is a UFC fan.”
