UFC White House fight card: Early ranking for the six bouts set to take place at Freedom 250
UFC put a pair of massively important title fights atop the unique event set for June in Washington D.C.
After months of speculation, we finally know the card for the first fight card on the White House lawn. Officially titled UFC Freedom 250, the historic event will be held on the South Lawn on June 14.
In the main event, lightweight champion Ilia Topuria will face interim champion Justin Gaethje to unify their respective titles. The interim heavyweight title will be on the line in the co-main event, when former middleweight and two-time light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira faces former interim heavyweight champ Ciryl Gane.
The card has been loaded top to bottom with fights that promise solid action and features many familiar names.
With such a unique event on the horizon, we looked at the recently announced card to rank our excitement for each fight.
Let's take a look at how the six fights stack up.
1. Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane, interim heavyweight championship
If you're looking for a fight that has all the potential to deliver on action, look no further than Pereira vs. Gane. That's also true if what you're looking for are interesting storylines. Pereira has held full championships at middleweight and light heavyweight and is now in pursuit of being the first man to win titles in three weight classes. While this fight is for the interim title, it would still be an unheard of accomplishment for Pereira. Gane is a former interim heavyweight champ who has had three chances to become undisputed champion and has lost twice (against Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones) and saw his fight with Tom Aspinall end in a no contest after Gane delivered deep pokes to both of Aspinall's eyes. A win against Pereira and Gane gets another shot at undisputed UFC glory, a loss and he might never get another chance.
Stylistically, it's hard to be upset with this fight. Neither man is interested in takedowns, though Pereira has begun to flirt with grappling as he has rounded out his mixed martial arts skillset. Gane's ground game is a full-on liability. That makes for a fight between two elite strikers that should be fought almost entirely on the feet. What more could you want than heavyweights throwing hands with a title shot on the line?
2. Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia, featherweights
High-stakes action on the lower end of the card are set as Lopes and Garcia clash. Lopes enters the fight in an unusual spot, having twice lost to Alexander Volkanovski in featherweight championship fights. Aside from the Volkanovski fight, Lopes has been nearly perfect in UFC action, only dropping his debut fight against Movsar Evloev. A win against Garcia and Lopes stays near the front of the line of title contenders, though he likely has to wait until Volkanovski drops the belt before he gets another crack. A loss, though, and Lopes' positioning will undergo a hard re-evaluation. Aside from the two losses to the champ, Lopes also had some surprising struggles against Dan Ige at UFC 303 in a fight Ige accepted on literal hours' notice. Lopes is in a very pivotal position in arguably the most high-profile spot in the sport's history.
Garcia, however, has to feel like he struck gold. After starting his UFC career 1-2, Garcia has rattled off seven consecutive victories, six of which came by knockout. While there are some good names on Garcia's resume, Lopes' would be the biggest. Currently the No. 8 featherweight in the official UFC rankings, Garcia has the chance to knock off No. 2 and put himself immediately into title contention in a fight that has all the stylistic reasons to be one of the best fights on the card, if not of the year.
3. Ilia Topuria (c) vs. Justin Gaethje (ic), lightweight championship
While promising explosive action, the night's main event checks in a few spots below the top here because it feels as though the outcome may be a little less in doubt than fights like Pereira vs. Gane and Lopes vs. Garcia. Topuria is currently a -535 favorite, making Gaethje the biggest underdog on the card. Both men are explosive strikers but Topuria is far more technically solid and has been running through elite fighters in violent fashion.
Of course, writing Gaethje off is always a risk. Many counted Gaethje out before his interim title fight with Paddy Pimblett and Gaethje looked as good as he has in years in derailing Pimblett's hype train. Gaethje's style always gives him a path to victory, even if the odds are against him. The long odds in this one do not mean anything when it comes to the action the pairing should produce, even if it's only for a brief moment before one of the men is out cold on the canvas.
4. Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus, middleweights
After a 2-4 start to his Octagon career, Daukaus was released by the promotion. Since the release, Daukaus has rattled off six consecutive wins, all but one by stoppage. Wins over Michel Pereira and Gerald Meerschaert since returning have cemented Daukaus as a solid middleweight and one who could serve as a gatekeeper in the 185-pound division.
Daukaus is exactly the kind of fighter Nickal should be facing at this point in his career. After stacking up some easy wins, Nickal was brought back down to earth when he was battered and eventually stopped by Reinier de Ridder. Nickal bounced back from that loss with a head kick knockout of Rodolfo Vieira. Daukaus represents a legitimate danger to Nickal, but also someone that Nickal should be able to defeat. If Daukaus gets the win, it's going to raise real questions about Nickal's ceiling.
5. Maurício Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler, lightweights
Records can mean very little when it comes to a fighter's popularity, and that is very much the case with Chandler. The former Bellator MMA champion made his long-awaited UFC debut in 2021 with a knockout of Dan Hooker that propelled him into a lightweight title fight. Since that Octagon-debut victory, Chandler is 1-5 with three stoppage losses. Chandler also lost out on a big payday when a fight with Conor McGregor never materialized after the pair served as coaches on "The Ultimate Fighter."
Chandler's strength of schedule is up there with the best in the sport, a contributing factor to his struggles to find victory. That isn't changing against Ruffy, the UFC's No. 9-ranked lightweight. Aside from a brief reality-check when he was submitted by Benoit Saint Denis, Ruffy has been perfect in UFC action, including three of four wins coming by knockout. After stopping Rafael Fiziev at UFC 325, Ruffy now gets a chance to face another man happy to stand and bang, but with a much bigger name than anyone he has knocked off previously.
6. Sean O'Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi, bantamweights
O'Malley is still a very popular fighter, but his recent performances haven't been up to his past standards. After losing twice to Merab Dvalishvili, O'Malley defeated Song Yadong at UFC 324 in a somewhat flat performance. In those three fights, O'Malley's strike output was down -- in part a product of Dvalishvili's smothering wrestling -- and he looked a little less dynamic than the man who landed 230 strikes against Marlon Vera and took out Aljamain Sterling in two rounds. That's one of the only reasons this fight, which may serve as a bantamweight title eliminator, finds itself at the bottom of these rankings.
Zahabi has rattled off seven consecutive victories, with the four most recent coming by decision. In his most recent fight, Zahabi barely edged out a split decision win over Vera. O'Malley brings name value, but there is a strong chance this ends up being the least memorable fight on the card if it falls into a slower pace. This should, however, be a purely stand-up fight, as O'Malley has only scored three takedowns in his UFC career to just one for Zahabi.
