UFC president Dana White has denied middleweight champion Sean Strickland's claims that he has been banned from attending this weekend's UFC White House event. The unique showcase, dubbed 'UFC Freedom 250', will take place on Sunday night at the White House South Lawn, coinciding with US President Donald Trump's birthday.
Strickland's Claims
Strickland, 35, took to social media to allege that he was prohibited from the event due to his criticism of Trump and his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In an Instagram post, Strickland wrote: 'UFC at the White House with [Benjamin Netanyahu] in the audience. Straight slop. To be fair, they did ban me. But when you make fun of the leaders of America, they tend to be a little bit petty. By leaders, I mean Israel.' He added: 'The only male American champ banned at the White House because I said Trump is owned by [Benjamin Netanyahu]. That's not public opinion, it's fact.'
White's Response
However, White dismissed the notion during a media scrum on Tuesday. 'Everybody's banned apparently. Apparently f****** everybody is banned,' White joked. 'Of course, Sean Strickland isn't [banned]. Sean Strickland is banned from humanity. We don't want him near any human beings anywhere. F****** shows up at Power Slap, he starts fights.' The UFC supremo clarified that no one has been banned from the event, which has only 4,300 seats available. Tickets were not sold to the public; the 5,000 spectators were invited by the UFC, the Trump administration, or are active military members.
Event Details
The blockbuster card is headlined by a lightweight title fight between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje, with a co-main event featuring Alex Pereira moving up to heavyweight to face Ciryl Gane for the vacant 265lb championship. White emphasized the exclusivity of the event, noting that even credentialed White House media members are limited. 'This is obviously a very unique event where first of all, there's only so much room,' White said. 'My head of public relations was telling me at the White House there's 1,000 media members that are credentialed at the White House. So 1,000 people [want access]. No, we can't have 1,000 of the White House media members just show up at this thing. There's only 4,300 tickets to actually seat. Literally, nobody has been banned from this event.'
