“The greatest fight card ever assembled,” UFC CEO Dana White promised fans about the upcoming UFC White House “one and done” event. Currently, promotion is focusing on the event, which will take place on June 14th on the South Lawn to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. While the fight card remains under wraps, White has already assured fans that it’s going to be “special.” However, a UFC veteran recently expressed doubt about the UFC bossman’s promise.

Reports suggest that the UFC has finalized the matchups for the White House event, and fans and attendees are already showing skyrocketing anticipation. On top of that, UFC owner Ari Emanuel recently raised expectations even higher. Still, the UFC has a history of fans seeing the hype fizzle, as was the case with UFC 300, and UFC veteran Matt Brown believes the same could happen for this event.

UFC veteran calls out flaw in Dana White’s White House plan

“They don’t have the stars that they used to have. Conor’s not fighting. I don’t give a fuck what anybody says, and I don’t care what he says. I don’t care what Dana says. He’s not fighting on it. They’re using him to promote it, right? Using his name to get it out there. He’s not fighting on that shit, bro,” Matt Brown recently told MMA Fighting.

With that bold remark, Brown pointed out the UFC’s ongoing promotional challenges and how the event appears without Conor McGregor. Meanwhile, the promotion continues to market the upcoming White House event around American sentiment and its heritage fighting spirit, though the UFC is approaching the situation in its own way.

Right now, Justin Gaethje holds the only male championship, while Kayla Harrison holds the only American female title. Meanwhile, Brazilians like Alex Pereira, Russians, and fighters from other regions such as Spain’s Ilia Topuria control the other divisions.

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“But what about Americans? That’s the thing. That’s the problem, there’s so few Americans. I mean, the champion is the only technically American champ right now. That’s what I’m saying,” Matt Brown added.

Still, few fighters capture attention the way they did in 2024, during the golden era of live gates, when the UFC drew massive crowds with blockbuster events like UFC 306, UFC 309, and many others, breaking live gate records. Since then, the promotion has struggled to sell fights and fill arenas because it lacks star power.

Matt Brown, however, sees one potential savior for the UFC White House event. Specifically, he identifies a “champ vs champ” showdown between Alex Pereira and Jon Jones as the only fight with true blockbuster potential that could save the card. Beyond that, Brown also predicts other matchups that the promotion could feature on the White House fight card. So, let’s take a look.

Matt Brown names the potential matchups for the White House event

A few weeks ago, former bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili claimed that the UFC would ban Russian fighters from the event because of global tensions between Russia and Ukraine, with America supporting Ukraine. However, Dana White quickly addressed the concern and dismissed the claim, assuring fans that the UFC White House event would not be “too political.”

With that clarified, welterweight champion Islam Makhachev can now defend his title after Ramadan, as the training period and timing of his return line up perfectly. At the same time, interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje will most likely face Ilia Topuria, since Gaethje is the only American champion. UFC veteran Matt Brown also acknowledged this fact.

“I think there are some pretty good fights, particularly with Islam. I mean, there’s some good choices out there for him to have some big fights. And Ilia—you know he’s gonna be fighting Gaethje on that card for sure. Like, I think that’s pretty much a done deal. That’s probably gonna be your main event, I think.”

With so much uncertainty around the UFC White House fight card, who do you think will headline the event this summer? Share your prediction below.