Dana White has made a late addition to the big White House “Freedom 250” UFC fight card after one quick question by the president.
According to White, Trump cornered him at UFC 327 in Miami on Saturday and had a question.
“Why is Derrick Lewis not on the White House card?” Trump asked, according to White.
The promoter said he quickly remedied the situation.
“I said, ‘I’ll be back in five minutes.’ I went and called Derrick Lewis,” White explained. “I said, ‘The president wants to know why you’re not on the White House Card and Derrick Lewis said, ‘Politics. Politics kept me off the White House Card.’”
“I said, ‘Do you want to fight on the card?’ and he said, ‘I absolutely want to fight on the card. Tell the president thank you.”
White has since announced that Josh Hokit will face Derrick Lewis at “Freedom 250.”
Clearly, Trump is a major fan, and now he’ll get to see his favorite fighter at “Freedom 250.”
“He’s a fan. He likes Derrick Lewis, he likes his personality, he likes the way he fights,” White said.
Lewis has three wins, but was knocked out in his last fight with Waldo Cortes Acosta in January. As to Hokit, he has a 3-0 record.
As to the other bouts listed on the card, White has announced that top billing went to Ilia Topuria, lightweight champ, and Justin Gaethje, interim lightweight champ, for the Sunday, June 14 event planned to be held on the grounds of the White House in Washington, D.C., according to TMZ Sports.
Co-main was assigned to Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane, who will vie for the interim heavyweight belt.
The rest of the fights include Sean O’Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi, Mauricio Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler, Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus, and Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia.
White also purposefully structured the card to include an American fighter for every bout except the Pereira-Gane fight.
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