Reports are starting to emerge that UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev may have been the fighter who pulled out of the UFC: White House event just 24 hours before the announcement of the card on Saturday night.
According to a report from Marca, the 170lb champ Makhachev was being lined up for a super-fight against the 155lb titleholder Topuria in the main event of the White House event, aka ‘Freedom Fights 250’.
The word is that negotiations for the fight didn’t actually start until last week, but it appeared that UFC officials were confident that it was going to happen because Justin Gaethje has since revealed at the weekend that he was told on Thursday that he would definitely NOT be on the card.
However, on Friday, Dana White revealed on a live stream with Nina Drama that a fight had literally just fallen through, while live video from the UFC 326 weigh-ins showed matchmakers Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard’s shocked reactions on-stage as UFC CBO Hunter Campbell appeared to whisper bad news to them.
With Makhachev apparently out of the equation, Gaethje said he was informed that day that he might still be on the card after all. And sure enough, during Saturday night’s UFC 326 broadcast, he was announced as being the main event fight against Ilia Topuria for the one-of-a-kind event.
At this stage there’s no indication as to why Makhachev pulled out of the fight on the eve of the fight card announcement.
A lightweight title fight between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje does have all the makings of an entertaining, crowd-pleasing fight, but it doesn’t have the true ‘superfight’ impact that Makhachev vs. Topuria would have had given that it features two champions who are currently the No.1 and No.2 ranked pound-for-pound fighters in the sport.
Meanwhile, it’s interesting to note that despite heavy speculation that Jon Jones vs. Alex Pereira was in the works in the days leading up to the announcement, Dana White has insisted that simply wasn’t the case after Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane was announced as the co-main event.
“Never ever, ever, which I told you guys 100,000 times, was Jon Jones even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House. I wouldn’t,” White stated at the UFC 326 post-fight press conference after being asked if Jones was the fighter who had dropped out. “First of all, I’ve told you why I wouldn’t do it. And No. 2, some guy with Meta Glasses on filmed him talking about his hips, that his hips are so bad. And I don’t know if you guys saw the flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones, he retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis. Apparently, he’s been, you know, doctors say he should have a hip replacement. That on top of all the other reasons.
“I’m not saying they weren’t talking to Jon Jones and that Jon Jones wasn’t interested in the fight. And what was even crazier is Jon Jones came out and was like, ‘I’m in negotiations right. now for the White House fight’ after I had already sent a text to his lawyer saying it’s never going to happen, ever.”
However, Jones himself has continued to deny that version of events in now deleted posts on X.
“So all of this negotiating was complete bull***t, is that what you want me to agree to publicly?” Jones asked in one post, before stating in another “I’m released from the UFC?!!”
“Man, how f***ing painful,” he added.
