{"id":15358,"date":"2026-06-15T23:03:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=15358"},"modified":"2026-06-15T23:03:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:03:02","slug":"dont-expect-a-repeat-ufc-boss-dana-white-says-never-again-to-another-white-house-fight-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=15358","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t expect a repeat. UFC boss Dana White says \u2018never again\u2019 to another White House fight night"},"content":{"rendered":"

By DAN GELSTON<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 By the time Justin Gaethje pummeled his bloodied foe to a pulp and celebrated a championship win with a backflip off the top of the wire-mesh cage, then shook hands with President Donald Trump \u2014 and even fist-bumped Melania \u2014 this much about his company\u2019s future was clear to the ultimate boss of UFC: Just say no to the White House.<\/p>

Read more Challenger with same name as US Sen. Dan Sullivan is ineligible for Alaska ballot, official says<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an amazing, experience, this was a one-of-one,\u201d UFC CEO Dana White said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will never happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, not because the show dubbed Freedom 250 and ostensibly held to celebrate Trump\u2019s 80th birthday and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence\u2019s signing wasn\u2019t by White\u2019s accounts a smashing success. He crowed about merchandise sales and streaming service subscriptions and how UFC surpassed its goals in every metric he could list at a news conference that stretched well into the dawn\u2019s early light Monday.<\/p>\n

And the setting?<\/p>\n

Forget it, almost impossible to top on a night when fighters essentially treated their walkouts like they were kids on a class trip. The all-male lineup toured the West Wing, the Oval Office, walked past presidential portraits, through the Roosevelt Room, the Cabinet Room \u2014 and the winners even got a meet-and-greet with Trump.<\/p>\n

Gaethje skimmed the copy of the Declaration of Independence that hangs in the Oval Office and said a prayer before he made the unusually long walk to the cage. Gaethje battered Spanish-Georgian fighter Ilia Topuria in the main event and won the UFC lightweight title.<\/p>

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\u201cUsually, I kind of blank out when it comes to getting ready to walk to the cage,\u201d Gaethje said. \u201cIt was pretty crazy, looking at the Declaration of Independence. The original one. Their language was different. I\u2019m not smart enough to read that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaethje also banked a whopping $825,000 in bonus money for winning \u201cPerformance of the Night\u201d and \u201cFight of the Night\u201d honors.<\/p>\n

Trump stayed until the end of the seven-card show and generally seemed engaged with the fights \u2014 at one point he put on a white \u201cUSA\u201d baseball cap \u2014 and certainly was all smiles each time a fighter who had a hand raised in victory then used it on a handshake with the president.<\/p>\n

Trump boasted on Truth Social the night was \u201cPERFECT!\u201d<\/p>

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