What can we expect from this weekend’s UFC event on the White House lawn? There is a more than good chance that this occasion, staged to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the US Declaration of Independence, will climax with American headliner Justin Gaethje being knocked out all too quickly by the terrifying Georgian short-ass Ilia Topuria.
Like everything to do with the UFC, the prospect is ludicrously exciting. If you are a sports fan – indeed, if you are merely interested in the colorful business of being alive – and you don’t follow the Ultimate Fighting Championship, you are missing out. With its incredible cast of outsized characters and mesmerizing subplots, it is ceaselessly and wonderfully entertaining.
Sunday’s event is being touted as the most watched in the history of mixed martial arts. That it has been organized by UFC supremo Dana White at a cost of $60 million to coincide with the 80th birthday of his best friend, one Donald J. Trump, and is not being held instead on actual Independence Day three weeks later, seems largely to have been overlooked in the media hoopla.
UFC commentator Joe Rogan has described UFC 250 as a ‘security nightmare’
Given the quality of the card, who cares? UFC Freedom 250 is a genuine treat for fight fans. Topuria is the heavy favorite to defeat Gaethje – who is known as The Highlight on account of a 32-fight track record of meting out and enduring cartoonish levels of violence – and thereby to retain his UFC Lightweight Championship belt.
