Sports
Fighters Donald Trump Has Banned From Fighting on Card
In the summer of 2026, the UFC will host arguably its biggest and most highly anticipated event ever. In June, a full fight card is set to take place on the south lawn of the White House as part of one of Donald Trump’s big events to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.
Although there was a lot of doubt over whether the event would actually go ahead after Trump revealed it was in the works last summer, it is now officially pencilled in on the UFC’s calendar and will take place on the 14th of June.
Dana White has met with the president and his team at the White House on several occasions regarding the planning and production of the event, and the UFC boss has promised to deliver the greatest fight card the promotion has ever produced.
The demand from fighters to compete at this blockbuster, one-off event is simply incredible. Superstars such as Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, and Alex Pereira have all expressed their desire to throw down on the White House lawn. However, which fighters will be on the card is yet to be decided.
Despite it being unknown as to who will compete on the card, we can now rule several fighters out, as it seems Trump has banned a certain group from being involved with the event.
Fighters Banned From UFC White House
Although Dana White has promised to deliver the greatest card ever when the UFC takes to the White House in June, some of the promotion’s biggest and best stars will be absent from it, as Donald Trump has seemingly banned Russians from competing at the event.
If former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili is to be believed, the American president has put a stop to all Russian fighters being on the card. This means that Islam Makhachev and Khamzat Chimaev, who are two of the promotion’s biggest stars, will not be in action at the White House, which will likely come as a huge disappointment to MMA fans around the world.
Dvalishvili recently ruled himself out of a world championship rematch against Petr Yan at the event, as it was “impossible” due to Yan being Russian.
With this news, it almost certainly puts to bed Trump’s claim that every single fight on the card will be a title fight.
Although there is a huge amount of hype and interest surrounding the UFC’s event at the White House, it is unfortunate to see that geopolitical issues are likely standing in the way of fans witnessing the greatest fight card of all time.
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