Days ahead of the UFC White House event on June 14, the promotion’s official kit partner Venum has unveiled a special gear collection for all fighters to wear on fight night. Maintaining the theme of the event, the gear features the US flag-inspired stars and stripes, with a deep red, blue, and white color scheme. Though most fighters have reacted positively to the gear, based on the UFC’s Instagram clip, Canadian fighter Aiemann Zahabi, who is set to face Sean O’Malley on the card, pointed out that the kits showcase an evident lack of diversity in their design.

“Well, my first reaction was, to me, I thought it was more like the Olympics, this celebration,” Zahabi told Ariel Helwani. “So I thought, you know, they would give us like a little wink on our outfits, like, you know, a little Canadian flag for me, and then like something for the Brazilians, something for the French, you know, something for the Mexicans, you know, whatever it was going to be. They’d give us a little wiggle, a little customization for it, you know, because, yes, we’re all coming to celebrate America, but we all have our own heritage.

“I put this AI photo, like, that would have been sick. I’m still happy to celebrate America’s birthday, but, you know, if I got to represent my country, it would be nice to, you know, do it while we’re doing it, you know. And so, it would have been nice to give us a little touch, and I think it would have sold a lot too. I think other people, like, when there’s the World Cup soccer jersey, everybody wants to get their country’s jersey, right? And it’s like, kind of, it kind of would have been the same thing.”

As a proud Canadian, it’s understandable why Aiemann Zahabi wanted to incorporate his national colors into his UFC Freedom 250 gear. Also, the bantamweight fighter even admitted that he viewed the matchup against Sean O’Malley as a Canada vs. USA showdown. However, the essence of the UFC White House event appears to be different in this case.

Rather than highlighting individual national identities, the card is being positioned as a celebration of American patriotism, which likely explains why the promotion opted for a unified design inspired by the American flag instead of country-specific customizations.

Dana White has long maintained that the UFC is a global sport and has generally avoided playing national anthems at events. But, speaking to Time magazine, White revealed that the American national anthem will be played at the White House event as an exception and described the spectacle as a celebration of “America with the world.” With that vision in mind, the American-themed Venum collection aligns closely with the broader message the UFC is trying to put forward. But this isn’t the first time the promotion has attempted to convey a singular theme with their gear.

When it comes to event-specific gear, the UFC has previously experimented with customized designs before. At UFC 306, also known as UFC Noche at the Las Vegas Sphere, the fighters on the card competed in customized Aztec-inspired kits in celebration of Mexico. Before that, when they were in partnership with Reebok, the promotion introduced customized UFC shorts for UFC 205 as a homage to New York. It was the card where Conor McGregor defeated Eddie Alvarez to become a double champ.

Now, it won’t be a stretch to say that Aiemann Zahabi is largely content with wearing the UFC gear for the June 14th event, but for him, it could’ve been a bit more customized. However, a former UFC heavyweight has nothing but disdain for the new Freedom 250 kits.

Brendan Schaub hates the UFC White House official kits  

For the most part, Brendan Schaub has remained critical of the UFC Freedom 250 card, and that stayed true when he reacted to the official kits for the event. According to ‘Big Brown,’ the kits represented nothing but laziness on the UFC and Venum’s part and more resembled soccer jerseys.

“Okay, so the new UFC gear,” Schaub said on the Thiccc Boy podcast. “I just need effort. I just need f—ing effort. This is some s–t I could have done on Clipart. It’s so bad. For the UFC White House event, this is what you came up with? Why is Ilia Topuria, why is Ciryl Gane, why is Poatan in U.S. colors? Shouldn’t they be in their country’s colors? And why isn’t it American flag-themed? I mean, there’s red, white, and blue. That’s what they’re trying to do.

“Derrick and Justin are just wearing Argentina soccer jerseys. That’s not even the American blue. Maybe kind of, but that’s… no. To your point, it’s not even blue. Look at the Argentina soccer jersey. We have, like, a royal blue. That’s the Argentina jersey. And then they’re wearing Real Madrid soccer jerseys. It’s so weak, dude. I don’t get it. Was there just no thought or effort put into this? I don’t know.”

The UFC White House kit’s white-and-blue color scheme honestly looks very similar to Argentina’s national home kit, which also features those same iconic colors. So, Schaub definitely brings up a fair point here. However, while not many seem to be thrilled with the design, it has to be admitted that these kits are now part of the promotion’s history.