UFC President and CEO Dana White has strongly denied claims made by middleweight champion Sean Strickland that he was banned from attending the promotion’s upcoming event on the White House South Lawn, according to SPORTbible.
The unprecedented card is scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C., in the early hours of Monday morning and is expected to be one of the most unique events in UFC history. The show will reportedly feature a lightweight title clash between champion Ilia Topuria and interim champion Justin Gaethje, while Alex Pereira is set to face Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight championship in the co-main event.
As reported by SPORTbible, the event is expected to cost up to $60 million (£44.3 million), accommodate approximately 4,300 guests and will be attended by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Strickland Claims He Was Blocked From Attending
Sean Strickland sparked controversy after suggesting he had been barred from the landmark event. The former UFC middleweight champion implied that his alleged exclusion may have stemmed from previous comments he made regarding President Trump, Israel and the Epstein Files.
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However, White categorically rejected those claims during a media appearance on Tuesday.
“Of course Sean Strickland isn’t banned [from the event],” White said, as quoted by SPORTbible.
The UFC boss then joked: “Sean Strickland is banned from humanity. We don’t want him near any human beings anywhere.”
White went on to explain that attendance limitations were solely related to the restricted number of tickets available for the event rather than any deliberate decision to exclude Strickland.
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“He made it very clear he didn’t want to be part of this event, and now he’s banned apparently – nobody is banned,” White added, according to SPORTbible. “Nobody’s music is banned, no media members have been banned. The list goes on and on. Nobody’s banned. Nothing’s banned.”
Strickland Responds With His Own Version of Events
Strickland later responded to White’s comments on social media, insisting that he had, in fact, been told he would be part of the event before later being informed otherwise.
“To Dana saying I wasn’t invited… I’ll clarify this for you,” Strickland wrote on X, as reported by SPORTbible.
“After my fight Hunter said he will get it done. UFC filmed it and embedded has the footage. I later got a call from the UFC saying ‘I wasn’t cleared by the White House’.”
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The conflicting accounts have added further intrigue to an already historic event as the UFC prepares to stage its first-ever card on the White House South Lawn.
Sources: www.sportbible.com
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