UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland said Tuesday he was barred from attending a championship fight card at the White House after making public criticisms of President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
On Tuesday night, Strickland wrote on X that he had been informed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that he had not been cleared to attend the event by the White House. He said a UFC official “said he will get it done,” and the promotion “filmed it and embedded [a UFC video channel] has the footage.” But Strickland added, “I later got a call from the UFC saying ‘I wasn’t cleared by the White House.’”
When a fan asked for specifics on why he had been excluded, Strickland replied, “I made fun of Israel and Epstein.” In a subsequent post, he went further, writing, “The only male American champ banned at the White House because I said Trump is owned by [Benjamin Netanyahu]. That’s not public opinion, it’s fact.”
Strickland, born in California, reclaimed the middleweight title with a split-decision victory over Khamzat Chimaev in May in Newark, New Jersey. The win made him the only undisputed men’s title holder in the UFC, aside from Burmese champion Joshua Van, who moved to Houston, Texas, as a teenager.
Strickland was once among Trump’s most vocal supporters in combat sports, but he said his views shifted after last year’s US strikes on Iran. “I stopped supporting Trump after Israel made him bomb Iran the first time,” he wrote on X. He described what he saw as a deferential dynamic: “Trump ‘stop bombing Iran’ Israel ‘Trump we need your bombers’ Trump ‘yes papa BB [Netanyahu] I got you.’”
UFC CEO Dana White dismissed Strickland’s allegation Tuesday. “Of course, Sean Strickland isn’t [banned],” White told reporters. “Sean Strickland is banned from humanity. We don’t want him near any human beings anywhere.” Casting the wider narrative of banned fighters as absurd, White added, “Everybody’s banned apparently. Apparently fucking everybody is banned.”
Neither the White House nor the UFC responded to requests for comment.
UFC Freedom 250 is set for June 14 on the south lawn of the White House, a date that coincides with Flag Day and Trump’s 80th birthday. The watchdog group Public Integrity Project last week filed a lawsuit arguing that the administration broke multiple federal laws to accommodate what it described as a “deeply corrupt” private commercial sporting event dressed up as a patriotic celebration. Trump’s financial disclosures show he bought up to $50,000 worth of stock in TKO Group Holdings, the UFC’s parent company, earlier this year.
While 4,300 military personnel are expected to attend, the event remains a coveted ticket among Washington power brokers, with donors, lobbyists and members of Congress jostling for seats. The National Weather Service forecast for Washington DC on Sunday shows a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening, around the time the main event is scheduled to begin.
Strickland’s grievances appeared to resonate with polling on related public sentiment. A June poll from the Economist/YouGov found that 68% of Americans want a deal to end the war with Iran as soon as possible. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found only 10% of respondents believe the Trump administration has properly helped deliver justice in cases connected to Epstein.