Sean Strickland believes Dana White is somehow shrouding the truth behind his exclusion from the UFC White House event. After the UFC middleweight champion claimed he had been banned from the White House event on June 14 as a result of his comments about President Donald Trump and his administration’s close ties to Israel, the UFC CEO yesterday broke his silence on Strickland’s apparent ban. In his reply to a fan, White clarified that Strickland “isn’t ‘banned’ from anything.” White repeated the same during a press event, stating that ‘nobody has been banned.’

This appears to be in contradiction to what the California native had claimed previously. Now, Sean Strickland is calling out the 56-year-old for lying about the ban.

“To Dana, saying I wasn’t invited… I’ll clarify this for you,” Strickland wrote on X. “After my fight Hunter said he will get it done. UFC filmed it and embedded has the footage. I later got a call from the UFC saying, ‘I wasn’t cleared by the White House.’”

Strickland didn’t specify which Embedded episode he was referring to here. However, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume he was alluding to the footage from the Embedded series for UFC 328, where he fought Khamzat Chimaev. Regardless, it now appears that the UFC, despite having previously banned people like Dillon Danis, Mark Hunt, and streamer Sneako from attending its events, has not specifically banned Strickland. But it was rather the White House that didn’t grant him clearance.

However, neither the White House nor the administration has revealed the reason behind supposedly not granting Strickland the required clearance. On top of that, no White House correspondent has explicitly spoken on the matter either.

A few days ago, the 35-year-old champion revealed on social media that he had a conversation with UFC CBO Hunter Campbell about his supposed White House ban. According to Strickland, Campbell “laughed” when they discussed the ongoing situation and assured him that the UFC would be “holding the line” on the First Amendment, which protects his free speech.

Going by Strickland’s words, the UFC CBO didn’t seem opposed to him attending the event. In that case, was Dana White really lying? Well, the more likely issue could be that the 185-pound champion simply wasn’t among those who received an exclusive invitation.

For the June 14 spectacle, the promotion has a very limited number of invitations, with most reportedly going to military personnel. As a result, the UFC hasn’t invited several of its current champions, including heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. So technically, fighters like Strickland and Aspinall aren’t banned, but they also don’t have the exclusive invitation required to attend the event. As a result, they cannot directly access the South Lawn to watch the card.

Still, Strickland appears unbothered by the prospect of missing the event, as he seemingly has no desire to share a seat with members of Trump’s administration, particularly Kash Patel.   

“I’m not even salty that they didn’t clear me,” Strickland said on social media. “Like, can you picture me sitting with Kash Patel? F— man! I would f— ban me from the White House too.”

Regarding the possibility of the UFC middleweight champion being banned from the event, a former UFC fighter also firmly believes that Strickland is not actually prohibited from attending the event. 

Ex-UFC fighter claims Sean Strickland isn’t banned from the White House event

Amid the confusion surrounding Sean Strickland’s status for the once-in-a-lifetime White House show, former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub confidently claimed that a ban was not the issue. However, Schaub understands that the middleweight champion could still find himself in trouble if he decides to show up.

“I like Sean and some of his opinions, I agree with a lot of the s— he says,” Schaub said on the Thiccc Boy podcast. “But there’s so much chaos going to be going on. It’s like, Strickland’s the type of guy that’s probably not going to have security. It’s just such a bad idea to be around that event.

“Why put yourself in that situation, man? FYI, UFC/Dana didn’t ban Strickland. That’s the White House strong-arming the UFC brass. Strickland has said much worse and done way more and never got banned or disciplined.”

Here, Schaub’s concern stemmed from the 185-pound champion’s recent claim that he was going to hold a peaceful protest outside the White House. Recently, Strickland said he planned to appear outside the White House with a “blowhorn” to express his peaceful dissent. Hearing that, Schaub even warned the Nevada-based fighter about the possibility of being arrested by security given the event’s heightened safety measures.

With conflicting statements surrounding Strickland’s presence at the White House event, further clarification may emerge if Dana White or someone from the White House decides to address the issue publicly.