What can we expect from this weekend’s UFC event on the White House lawn? There is a more than good chance that this occasion, staged to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the US Declaration of Independence, will climax with American headliner Justin Gaethje being knocked out all too quickly by the terrifying Georgian short-ass Ilia Topuria.
Like everything to do with the UFC, the prospect is ludicrously exciting. If you are a sports fan – indeed, if you are merely interested in the colorful business of being alive – and you don’t follow the Ultimate Fighting Championship, you are missing out. With its incredible cast of outsized characters and mesmerizing subplots, it is ceaselessly and wonderfully entertaining.
Sunday’s event is being touted as the most watched in the history of mixed martial arts. That it has been organized by UFC supremo Dana White at a cost of $60 million to coincide with the 80th birthday of his best friend, one Donald J. Trump, and is not being held instead on actual Independence Day three weeks later, seems largely to have been overlooked in the media hoopla.
UFC commentator Joe Rogan has described UFC 250 as a ‘security nightmare’
Given the quality of the card, who cares? UFC Freedom 250 is a genuine treat for fight fans. Topuria is the heavy favorite to defeat Gaethje – who is known as The Highlight on account of a 32-fight track record of meting out and enduring cartoonish levels of violence – and thereby to retain his UFC Lightweight Championship belt.
Certainly, Topuria, despite his diminutive stature – he’s reckoned to be somewhere between 5’3” and 5’7” – is a fearsome prospect. He’s never tasted defeat in his 17-fight professional career, and in his last three fights has walked seemingly effortlessly through storied UFC champions Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway and Charles Olivera, knocking each man unconscious with preternatural punching power.
Before he moved up to Lightweight, Topuria marmalized all-comers to become undisputed UFC Featherweight champion. Relations with Gaethje ahead of their Sunday contest until recently were respectful. Tit-for-tat insults lately have broken out, however, after the Georgian fighter heard Gaethje’s father describe him as “short.”
“When I put you to sleep and you’re lying there… I’ll look at your father and ask him one simple question: who’s the short one now? I’m going to break you Justin,” Topuria tweeted. Gaethje responded: “obviously, short guys get mad when you call them short.” He also publicly opined he finds Topuria so irritating he understands why his wife left him. Playground stuff by UFC standards, sure, but huge fun all the same.
The co-main event is also a doozy. Awesome Brazilian kickboxer Alex Pereira will fight France’s Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC Heavyweight belt – interim because when Gane last October fought incumbent champion Tom Aspinall, a likable Brit, he contrived illegally to shove his fingers so far into both of Aspinall’s eyes that the fight had to be called off. Aspinall has since undergone surgery but is yet to make a comeback.
Should Pereira beat Gane – as he is odds-on favorite to do – he will become the first person to have held UFC world championship belts at three separate weight classes, an effort one would think would command the respect of his peers. Not so. During a UFC 250 pre-fight press conference at which all fighters were present, American fellow heavyweight Josh Hokit was ejected while screaming Pereira’s famous catchphrase “chama” – Brazilian vernacular for “come on!” – at him. “I’m going to chama on your mama,” Hokit could be heard yelling as he was bundled from the room.
Very obviously UFC Freedom 250 is an event lifted straight from the “bread and circuses” playbook of ancient Rome, when emperors kept the public happy and distracted by handing out free grain and staging lavish spectacles such as gladiatorial fights, chariot races and theatrical shows. It doesn’t require a particularly acute political antenna to divine the message emanating from the White House in terms of the decision to allow the event to be held on its famous lawn: “Relax about Iran/Epstein/the cost of living, would you? Just enjoy the spectacle.”
Indeed, there are rumors Benjamin Netanyahu will be in attendance , as presumably will be key members of Trump’s inner circle: Melania, Eric and Don Jr.. Other guests in the 4,300 seat invitation-only crowd are expected to include J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio. Elon Musk has previously accompanied Trump to UFC events – he appeared mystified by the violence – and Mark Zuckerberg is known to be a committed fan.
UFC commentator Joe Rogan has described UFC Freedom 250 as a “security nightmare” on the basis “everyone is going to know where all the world leaders are going to be… it’s weird to stage a fight at the White House in the middle of a fucking war.” He’s also complained holding the event outdoors under lights in Washington in the heat of mid-June will result in an infestation of bugs. Swarms of bees, though not ideal, would certainly be preferable to actual drones.
One person who will not be in attendance at this celebration of all things American is Sean Strickland, the UFC’s only current American champion. He claims to have been banned after criticizing Trump for his support for Israel. “The UFC higher-ups called me and said I’m not Israeli enough to go to UFC 250 Israel edition,” he told his social-media followers in a filmed message with characteristic lack of reluctance to criticize his paymasters. He’s vowed to turn up all the same, in order to protest. “I already bought my plane tickets. We’re going. I’m going to bring the belt, I’m going to get a big bullhorn, and I’m going to go right up to the gates. Let’s fucking go,” he said. Dana White has responded that Strickland should “be banned from humanity.”
Bread and circuses it may be, but all the same I cannot wait for UFC Freedom 250. No other sport offers anything like this technicolor quality of entertainment. For what it’s worth, I predict Gaethje will somehow pull off a miracle to beat Topuria, and Pereira will likewise defeat Gane. If you’re looking to place a three-fight accumulator, then Josh Hokit also stands a very good chance against Derrick Lewis. I just hope everyone gets home safe, spectators included. Happy birthday, Mr. President. And God bless America!
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