White House UFC event set for historic night of title fights

The UFC is set to stage a landmark event at the White House overnight between Sunday and Monday, after a year of preparations, successful weigh-ins, tense face-offs and heavy anticipation. The card comes as the World Cup is underway in North America, and organizers are billing it as an unprecedented spectacle that also coincides with the United States’ 250th anniversary and Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.

Before the fights begin, a special UFC studio show will air live on 5SPORT from 01:00, with the main card starting at 03:00. Rotem Don and Ran Melovany are scheduled to host the broadcast coverage.

The event will feature two title bouts. In the lightweight championship fight, reigning champion Ilia Topuria will defend against Justin Gaethje, who is trying to take the belt from one of the UFC’s biggest stars. Earlier, Alex Pereira will face Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title.

That heavyweight matchup was arranged because Tom Aspinall, the current heavyweight champion, suffered an eye injury in his last fight against Gane and has been sidelined for an extended period. Pereira will be making his heavyweight debut in the bout, which was created to keep the division active. The full card also includes Sean O’Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi, Josh Hokit vs. Derrick Lewis, Mauricio Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler, Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus, and Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia.