After a few months, the UFC will stage its ambitious White House card on the South Lawn. However, the hype behind the spectacle has taken a noticeable hit, with fans criticizing the overall quality of the lineup. While the promotion managed to book Ilia Topuria and Alex Pereira together, the card’s lack of major American stars appears to be hurting its appeal. Now, one American UFC fighter has also voiced his criticism.

As per popular American UFC star Colby Covington, the UFC has messed up big time with their Freedom 250 card, as there aren’t many top-ranked stars from the United States.

“The thing was just so disorganized. There wasn’t any big, high-ranking American fighters,” ‘Chaos’ told MMA Junkie. “They have Michael Chandler, who is 40 years old, and then Sean O’Malley, who is a great fighter, love Sean, but besides that, who is the guys representing America on the 250th birthday of America? Doesn’t seem like there’s that guy there. It just seems like they don’t care anymore,” he added.

Well, after the UFC unveiled their Freedom 250 card for June 14th, the reception has been very underwhelming from the fans. The reason? Although mostly everyone loved the two title fights on top, many felt that the undercard didn’t live up to expectations, essentially calling out the promotion for not putting any classic fights on the lineup. Moreover, the American presence on this card also received some backlash.

Although the White House card has decent American representation for a six-fight card in the faces of Justin Gaethje and Sean O’Malley, other than those two superstars, only Michael Chandler, Bo Nickal, Kyle Daukaus, and Steve Garcia are the American fighters who will feature on the card. Indeed, they are really good fighters and could provide the White House audience with much-needed entertainment. But are they bringing the star factor? The answer would mostly be ‘No.’

Though Covington never managed to become an undisputed champion, fans always liked his ‘patriotic American’ persona. Similar to ‘Chaos’, other stars like Jorge Masvidal, Nick Diaz, and Robbie Lawler, the OG stars of the country, would’ve elevated the levels of the show at a point when the promotion lacked American champions. Hence, the former 170 lbs interim champ believes the UFC compromised on elite talent at the White House.

Now, as Covington finds himself on the ‘snubbed from White House card’ list, the popular USA fighter also revealed his personal feelings over missing out on the card.

Colby Covington ‘bummed out’ for not performing at UFC White House

To be fair, the former UFC welterweight title challenger always seemed like a frontrunner for the Freedom 250 card. The situation was tailor-made for Colby Covington, as the promotion is set to hold the spectacle on June 14 on Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. He could have faced anyone on that day and pulled off a highlight-reel moment, but ‘Chaos’ revealed the UFC never had that plan in their list.

“I wouldn’t say bothered but more bummed,” Covington told MMA Junkie. “Just a little bummed. I thought that I was a shoo-in for that spot. I’m the one that brought Trump into UFC back in 2018 when no one was supporting him. There wasn’t an athlete alive that was walking around Times Square supporting him like I was, wearing the MAGA hat in Times Square with my belt and going to media tours.

“I thought I was going to get that call to represent the U.S. and get on that White House card. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in their cards. Hunter didn’t give me the opportunity, the UFC didn’t give me the opportunity,” he added.

Well, it’s true that Donald Trump himself is a massive MMA fan. However, it also has to be accepted that Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal’s push to call themselves the POTUS’ favorite fighters worked in terms of their connection with the UFC. So, their presence at the Freedom 250 card would have been great, but it seems too late now.

That said, what do you think about the UFC White House card? Has it landed as per expectations? Let us know in the comments section below.