UFC co-founder Rorion Gracie criticized the upcoming fight at the White House as “unnecessary violence,” joining a chorus of critics that includes UFC champion Sean Strickland, who has sparred with UFC president Dana White over the fighter’s claim he was “banned” from the event.
Sean Strickland is the UFC middleweight champion. (Photo by Jack Gorman/Getty Images)
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Gracie, who co-founded the UFC in 1993, told USA Today Sports on Thursday he won’t watch the White House fight because he believes the UFC has embraced “unnecessary violence,” which he said is “not the direction it was intended to go” when he helped launch the organization.
The highest-profile critic of the fight has been Strickland, an American UFC fighter who won the middleweight title last month, who claimed in a video on X unnamed UFC higher-ups called him to say he cannot attend the upcoming White House fight over his criticisms of President Donald Trump and Israel.
In another video on his Instagram story, Strickland said, “I already bought my plane ticket, we’re f—ing going… I’m gonna get a big f—ing bullhorn, and we’re gonna go right up to the gates,” claiming it would be a “peaceful protest.”
White rebuffed Strickland’s claims earlier this week while speaking to reporters, saying “literally nobody has been banned” and that Strickland “made it very clear he didn't want to be a part of this event, and now he's banned apparently — nobody is banned.”
White, though, criticized Strickland, who is well known for a history of controversial and offensive statements, saying the fighter is “banned from humanity. We don't want him near any human beings anywhere.”
Strickland responded to White in a post on X, claiming he “got a call from the UFC saying ‘I wasn't cleared by the white house.’”
Strickland has previously criticized the UFC’s White House fight, saying in December he would not want to go to “hang out with the f—ing Epstein list.”
UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell backed Strickland at a press event late Wednesday and blasted the White House fight, saying the government is "desecrating its role in society by entertaining sports.” The government should “never” host sporting events because “there’s more room for corruption and we already have a corrupted government,” Mitchell said, adding the role of the government is to “protect us, not entertain us.” Aiemann Zahabi, a Canadian fighter slated to participate on Sunday, said he is excited for the fight but wished the event would be “more like the Olympics” and give international athletes an opportunity to honor their heritage, saying he would have wanted a “little wink on our outfits, like a little Canadian flag or maybe a moose for me.” Joe Rogan, a longtime UFC commentator, has repeatedly criticized the upcoming fight on his podcast, despite being slated to attend and call the event. On “The Joe Rogan Experience” last week, Rogan raised concerns over safety, saying, “That seems like a good safe place to be, huh? Everyone’s going to know where all the world leaders are going to be.” He has frequently criticized the logistics of the event, saying a UFC championship should not be held outdoors because of potential disturbances like bad weather, bugs or high heat. Rogan, also a frequent critic of the Iran war, said in March it is “weird to have a fight at the White House in the middle of a f—ing war.” UFC fighter Brandon Royval criticized the fight in November, saying, “I don’t give a s— about fighting at the f—ing White House.” Royval said he doesn’t care about any politicians or billionaires, and he likened fighting in front of them to “The Hunger Games.” Former UFC champion Ronda Rousey also slammed the event in September, saying, “I ain’t fighting at the f—ing White House.” In March, Rousey said the card for the White House fight “sucks” and “fell extremely short of expectations.”
UFC fighters will face off at the White House on June 14, which is both President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and Flag Day, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Construction of a 4,000-seat arena is underway on the South Lawn, which Trump earlier this week compared to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. He said the Eiffel Tower was never taken down as planned, suggesting the UFC octagon is “quite attractive to a lot of people” and “maybe we’ll never ever take it down.” The UFC is expected to spend $60 million on the event, with UFC president Dana White claiming the organization will likely lose $30 million. White has defended the event against critics, including those who have called it insensitive or unsafe to host a fight at the White House during a war. The UFC “can’t just bend and break and roll over for every bad thing that happens in the world,” White told Rolling Stone, saying he’s “not going to not run my business” because of the war. The UFC announced the lineup in March, sparking mixed reactions from fans who felt it lacks the sport’s legends. The event’s main fight is a lightweight match between American Justin Gaethje against Ilia Topuria of Georgia.
Strickland is a two-time UFC middleweight champion, winning his first title in 2023 and his second last month. Rogan has previously praised him as “one of the best fighters on planet Earth,” saying he is “one of the hardest guys to hit in the sport.” But Strickland also regularly draws outrage for making controversial and offensive statements that have targeted women, LGBTQ people and people of color, and he has sparked backlash for using racial and homophobic slurs. Earlier this year, he drew backlash for using a homophobic slur against musician Bad Bunny after his Super Bowl halftime show, calling him a “gay foreigner who doesn’t speak f—ing English” during a UFC Media Day event. The same day, he said “no one gives a f— about women’s sports,” adding, “There’s nothing wrong with women. They do great things. They cook, they clean.” Earlier this week, he posted an apparently AI-generated video on Instagram of himself beating a transgender woman in a UFC octagon, saying he has “yet to see one rainbow flag. We're back!!!” referring to the start of Pride Month.
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