I’ll concede that I was immensely disappointed when the UFC White House card – officially dubbed UFC Freedom 250 – was released back in early March.
More than anything, it was the lack of depth – only six scraps at the time – and some lopsided matchups. In fact, only two of the seven bouts have the favorite listed with odds cheaper than -335.
Instead of six fights, we now have seven thanks to President Trump, who asked UFC President Dana White during UFC 327 in Miami, “Why isn’t Derrick Lewis on the White House card?”
White replied, “Hold on a second, Mr. President.”
After calling Lewis and watching Josh Hokit and Curtis Blaydes wage an Instant Classic later that night, Hokit vs. Lewis was added to Sunday’s show on the South Lawn at the White House.
I certainly didn’t have any complaints about the top of the card, which is where we’ll start.
**Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje**
In the main event, Ilia Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) will defend his lightweight belt against interim 155-pound champion Justin Gaethje, who destroyed Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett to win the interim strap for the second time in his career at UFC 324 back in January. Topuria won the title by scoring a first-round knockout win over former lightweight kingpin Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira last June at UFC 317.
Topuria has bagged fight-night bonuses in six straight scraps, including five Performance of the Night bonuses and one Fight of the Night. In his last three outings, he’s finished three future Hall of Famers. ‘El Matador’ won the featherweight strap at UFC 298 on Feb. 17 of 2024 when he KO’d Alexander Volkanovski in the second round in Anaheim.
Next, Topuria beat Max Holloway via third-round KO at UFC 308 to defend the 145-pound title. He vacated the belt in April of 2025 to move up to 155.
Topuria has finished 15 of his 17 opponents, producing eight submissions and seven KOs. Josh Emmett and Youssef Zalal are his only UFC foes who went the three-round distance with the unbeaten champion. He’s produced six of his career KOs in the Octagon.
Gaethje (27-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) is probably the most exciting fighter in UFC history. In 15 career UFC appearances, ‘The Highlight’ has 15 fight-night bonuses, participating in 10 Fights of the Night. He owns notable scalps over Dustin Poirier, Rafael Fiziev (twice), Michael Johnson, Melvin Guillard, Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson and Pimblett.
All five of Gaethje’s defeats have come against former champions, including Oliveira, Holloway, Poirier, Eddie Alvarez and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
As of Saturday afternoon, most books had Topuria installed as a favorite in the -550 to -600 range, leaving Gaethje at +400 on the comeback. The total was 1.5 rounds flat (-112 either way at FanDuel).
PREDICTION: If they fought 10 times, do I think Topuria wins at least seven of those, maybe even eight or nine? Probably. However, they’re only fighting once, and this narrative implying that Gaethje is the “lamb being led to slaughter” is comical. When you have the skills of Gaethje, who has been in 32 professional fights and has shared the Octagon with the likes of Nurmagomedov, Poirier (twice), Oliveira and Holloway, you’re certainly not intimidated by a smaller man who was fighting at 145 pounds two years ago. Topuria is wildly overconfident and will be content to wage a stand-up battle despite being the superior fighter on the ground. He’s never dealt with anything close to the powerful leg kicks that he’ll have to consistently absorb from Gaethje as long as the fight lasts. I’ll call for the upset in what will be a stunner and one of the better feel-good moments in the promotion’s history. Give me Gaethje at +430 (Caesars) for one unit to win 4.35 units.
**Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane**
As of Saturday afternoon, most books had this bout for the interim heavyweight championship as a pick ’em (-110 odds either way). The total was 3.5 rounds (‘under’ -134, ‘over’ +106 at FanDuel).
Pereira (13-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) is attempting to become the first three-division champion in UFC history. The 38-year-old Brazilian started his UFC run at middleweight, beating Israel Adesanya via fifth-round KO to win the 185-pound belt at UFC 281 in November of 2022.
After losing the rematch to Adesanya, Pereira went 6-1 in seven fights at light heavyweight from November of 2023 until October of 2025. He went 5-1 in six title fights over that stretch, avenging his only loss (by decision to Magomed Ankalaev) by dusting Ankalaev via 80-second KO at UFC 320 last October.
When the fighters hit the scales this morning, the 38-year-old Pereria (251 pounds) was actually heavier than Gane (248).
The 36-year-old Gane (13-2-0-1 MMA, 10-2-0-1 UFC) is 6-foot-5 and will enjoy a one-inch edge in height and a two-inch advantage in reach (81 inches to 79). The Frenchman is 2-0 with one no-contest in his last three outings.
Gane left heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall unable to continue after repeated eye pokes in the first round of their title fight last October at UFC 321. He was getting the better of the stand-up exchanges in the opening frame vs. Aspinall, who has had to undergo multiple eye surgeries since their fight was ruled a no-contest.
Gane had posted back-to-back wins over Alexander Volkov (split decision at UFC 310) and Serghei Spivac (second-round KO at UFC Paris) before facing Aspinall.
PREDICTION: Gane has spectacular athleticism for his size, but so does Pereira. Pereira looks great with the new weight on him and suddenly doesn’t have to deal with a taxing weight cut. I just think Pereira has more dog in him and more ways to finish this bout. Give me Pereira, risking 1.1 units to win one unit.
**B.E.’s Bonus Octagon Nuggets**
-In a separate article that’ll be posted Sunday afternoon, I’ll have my picks for the rest of the seven-fight card.
-The first fight is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Eastern. As of 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, weather.com’s forecast was calling for isolated thunderstorms, 83-degree temperatures and a 30 percent chance of rain at 8:00 p.m. Sunset will be at 8:34 p.m. The temperature is expected to dip to 80 degrees with a 36 percent chance of rain at 9:00. By 10:00, it’s supposed to be 79 degrees with seven mile-per-hour winds and a 36 percent chance of showers.
-Here’s the UFC Freedom 250 Cold Open.
-No shocker here, as a wild brawl broke out at Saturday’s RAF 10 after former UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev pinned Dillon Danis in their match.
-Here’s the Gane-Pereira faceoff at last night’s ceremonial weigh-ins.