Dana White Reveals One Regret in Matchmaking for UFC Freedom 250 After Snubbing America vs The World Theme

The UFC is about to host the first-ever live sports event on the lawns of the White House. In less than a month’s time, Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje are set to headline what some tout as the biggest event in UFC history. However, UFC CEO Dana White is unhappy with one facet of the upcoming card.

The UFC Freedom 250 card is stacked from top-to-bottom. Not only is it being headlined by the aforementioned lightweight title fight, but the co-main sees Alex Pereira challenge for a third UFC title against Ciryl Gane. The rest of the card sees fan favorites like Diego Lopes and Mauricio Ruffy take on challengers from their respective divisions.

However, despite assembling this stellar card, Dana White has one regret about the matchups on June 14. The veteran promoter told NPR’s Steve Inskeep that he had tried to get a Chinese fighter on the White House card. However, things did not fall into place despite his best efforts.

I think that everybody thought that I was going to build a card, ‘America vs. The World.’ We did the exact opposite. America is a country of immigrants, that all came from somewhere else, and they’re all going to be represented. I tried hard to have a Chinese fighter on the card too, but it didn’t work out.

Dana White via NPR

🚨| Dana White discusses how he built the White House card, and even says he wanted Chinese representation on the card but it didn’t come to fruition. 🇨🇳

“I think that’s everybody thought that I was going to build a card, ‘America vs. The World.’ We did the exact opposite.… pic.twitter.com/iik0ZxNT3K

— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) May 19, 2026

This statement from the UFC CEO surprised many fans online, given his close ties to the President of the United States, Donald Trump. The 46th POTUS’ policies have been extremely divisive amongst the American public. The comments of the above post saw some pushback against the narrative Dana White tried to relay to NPR during his conversation with Steve Inskeep.

Despite not being able to secure a Chinese fighter for the White House card, the event still has a lot of marquee names on it. So much so that it is among the most exclusive events in global sports, with even the UFC CEO having limited tickets.

Dana White reveals how many tickets he and Donald Trump have for UFC Freedom 250

The upcoming UFC Freedom 250 event’s scope goes much beyond being an MMA card. It is also a celebration of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States’ independence, while also being Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. To say the event will be a star-studded affair would be doing it a disservice.

It was confirmed that 85,000 viewers will be seated at the Ellipse across the South Lawn for UFC Freedom 250. But only 4,300 attendees will actually watch the event unfold from within the White House grounds. Considering the exclusivity of this event, it’s no wonder that the UFC CEO told TMZ that he himself only has 200 tickets to his name for the upcoming White House card.

There’s a lot of people who hit me up for tickets. We did invites. The president has 1,000. I have 200. [TKO CEO] Ari Emanuel has 200. And the rest are all going to the military. Every branch of the military will be represented at the show.

Dana White via TMZ

Dana White confirmed earlier that there would be an 85,000 ticket giveaway ahead of the UFC Freedom 250 event. There have been no more updates about the giveaway since. But the veteran promoter did encourage people to travel to Washington, D.C. for the event during the announcement.

There are fewer than four weeks to go till Ilia Topuria defends his lightweight title against Justin Gaethje on the lawns of the White House. As such, preparations seem to have hit a new gear with the fighters visiting the President at the White House and even facing off on the lawns.

That said, the UFC CEO acknowledged that key issues remain unresolved, even less than a month out from the card. Yet as the landmark occasion draws closer, more details are expected to emerge.

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