"During Saturday's UFC 326 broadcast, promotion officials revealed that the card, now entitled Freedom 250, would be headlined by Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje, for Topuria's lightweight title. The co-main event sees Alex Pereira, recently announced as vacating his light heavyweight title, take on former UFC interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane."
"The elephant in the room is Jon Jones, who just days ago suggested he was still negotiating to appear on the White House card. "Bones" was not mentioned by name during Saturday's announcement, nor has White confirmed that he was part of the fight that reportedly fell through on Friday."
"The card will almost certainly be talked about as much for who isn't on it, primarily Jon Jones, as who is. In recent weeks, it has been suggested that the promotion was going a different direction with McGregor, whose star power is capable of elevating any event on its own, and might therefore be wasted on a White House event expected to already draw plenty of attention."
The UFC revealed the complete card for Freedom 250, its White House event, during Saturday's UFC 326 broadcast. The main event features Ilia Topuria defending his lightweight title against Justin Gaethje, while Alex Pereira faces Ciryl Gane in the co-main event. Sean O'Malley takes on Aiemann Zahabi in a potential bantamweight title eliminator, and Michael Chandler fights Mauricio Ruffy at lightweight. Additional bouts include Bo Nickal versus Kyle Daukaus at middleweight and Diego Lopes against Steve Garcia. The announcement notably excluded Jon Jones and Conor McGregor, despite earlier negotiations suggesting their involvement. Dana White had disclosed Friday that a fight fell through for the event.
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