The UFC lightweight title will unify on the White House lawn.
Ilia Topuria will put his title on the line against interim champ Justin Gaethje as the headliner for the UFC’s one-of-a-kind event in Washington on June 14 — coinciding with President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday — the promotion announced Saturday night during its broadcast of UFC 326.
The co-main event also features UFC gold up for grabs — and in one man’s case, a chance at history — as Alex Pereira seeks to become the first three-division champion in the organization’s history when he and Ciryl Gane vie for an interim heavyweight title.
That belt was spawned as champion Tom Aspinall recuperates from eye injuries suffered from an illegal eye poke he absorbed during his October title defense against Gane (13-2, nine finishes), which was ruled a no-contest.
Topuria (17-0, 15 finishes) is slated to action nearly one year after joining rare company in the two-division champion club by knocking out Charles Oliveira, Saturday’s main event BMF title challenger.
Gaethje (27-5, 21 finishes), an interim champion for the second time, seeks his first undisputed gold after securing his latest title with a win over Paddy Pimblett in January, paving the way for the crowd-pleasing Arizona native to compete at the White House as he had made known since Trump pulled back the curtain on the event.
Brazilian star Pereira (13-3, 11 finishes), who previously has conquered the 185- and 205-pound weight classes, had been announced last week as vacating his light heavyweight title, which will be up for grabs at UFC 327 in Miami on April 11 in a headliner between Jiri Prochazka and Carlos Ulberg.
Pereira had been quiet in the days since that revelation by UFC CEO Dana White, and no other possibility beyond a move to heavyweight made much sense for the former two-weight kickboxing champion who has reached new heights while conquering mixed martial arts over the past five years.
Gane, himself a former interim heavyweight champion, had fared well in his bid to dethrone Aspinall before an apparently inadvertent double-eye poke forced a dispiriting halt to the contest.
The rest of the announced fights for the card are:
- Bantamweight: Sean O’Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi
- Lightweight: Mauricio Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler
- Middleweight: Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus
- Featherweight: Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia
White has noted there may be another addition at a later date.
He also shared in a clip circulating on social media that one of the planned fights fell apart late Friday night.
