The UFC is currently assembling the final lineup for the highly anticipated card at the White House on June 14 with all sorts of guesses about the magnitude of the fights being booked for that event.
UFC CEO Dana White has repeatedly promised the biggest and best card possible and the pressure got ratcheted up even more after UFC owner Ari Emanuel said the event is only expected to showcase “six to seven fights” in total. Justin Gaethje believes he should serve as one half of the headliner in a title unification bout with UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria with Conor McGregor and Jon Jones still pushing for slots for the card taking place on the White House lawn.
But much like all the hype surrounding UFC 300, which ended up with Alex Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill as the main event, retired welterweight Matt Brown just isn’t buying that the promotion is going to pull off some magic trick and suddenly book the biggest fights in history for this card.
“It’s hard to imagine you’re not [setting yourself up for disappointment],” Brown said on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Because they don’t have the stars that they used to have and Conor’s not fighting on it. I don’t give a f*ck what anybody says. I don’t care what he says. I don’t care what Dana [White] says. They’re using him to promote it and using his name to get it out there. He’s not fighting on that shit.
“Even if that is signed and a done deal, I’m not going to believe it until he is inside the octagon and a punch is thrown. Even in the walkout I might be like something is going to happen here. When a punch is thrown, I’ll be like all right I guess he’s fighting.”
Brown has long believed that the UFC has already seen the last of McGregor, who has been out of action for nearly five years after suffering a broken leg during his last appearance back in 2021.
Outside of that, Jones and Pereira have both said they’d like to clash on the card, which is arguably the biggest fight the UFC could potentially book right now. While that matchup might bring a lot of eyeballs, Brown knows Jones would be an overwhelming favorite to win so it’s not even that competitive
“I can’t think six to seven fights that are that gigantic,” Brown said. “Unless you get Jones and Pereira as the main event, which even then is it going to be an exciting fight? Is Jones not going to f*cking take him down and finish him in a minute or two? Jon’s not going to f*ck around with him on the feet.”
But Brown’s doubts go further than just the lack of star power on the UFC roster right now because he believes it gets even trickier if the UFC is hoping to showcase the best American fighters that night.
“I think the even bigger issue is they can make some pretty significant, good fights but what about Americans?” Brown said. “It’s at the White House. That’s the problem, they have so few American [stars]. That’s a problem.
“Unless they just go ahead and say you know what? F*ck whether it’s American or not, we’ll just make it international, which is what I think you almost have to do and the UFC is an international sport. I don’t know how much they’re going to care about that or not. Maybe they just make the biggest fights that they can make.”
If Gaethje’s prediction comes true and he faces Topuria in the main event, he’s also going to be a massive underdog.
Odds on that fight released just after Gaethje claimed the UFC interim lightweight title had Topuria as a huge 6-to-1 favorite. Given Topuria’s dominance and the way he’s laid waste to so much of his competition in the UFC, it’s tough to argue with that logic.
So once again Brown says that’s where the UFC runs into a problem because out of every matchup possible, Topuria versus Gaethje might end up as the best possible fight to headline the White House card but it’s more than likely the American ends up losing.
“Topuria-Gaethje, it’s not as guaranteed as people think that it’s going to be a significant, crazy good fight,” Brown said. “I think Topuria’s levels above him. He might have a hard time knocking him out. He might just beat him up for five rounds. He might even play it safe and jab him for five rounds, kind of stick and move like why do I need to go for it here? This is Justin Gaethje, he’s going to throw a wild shot, I need to be careful. That’s probably a fight that’s going to happen on that card, I’m guessing.”
With limited options available, Brown says fans should start setting their expectations now that the UFC White House card might be great but there’s almost no way it lives up to the hype — at least on paper.
“There’s some pretty good fights, particularly with Islam [Makhachev], there’s some good choices out there for him to have some big fights,” Brown said. “Ilia, you know he’s going to be fighting Gaethje on that card for sure. I think that’s pretty much a done deal. That’s probably going to be your main event.”
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