From the moment President Donald Trump spoke into existence the idea of a UFC event at the White House, the hype for a fight card for the ages seemed too good to be true. In many ways, it was.The bouts were built up to be a logjam of the sport’s top stars, poised to deliver on Dana White’s 25-year-long project of elevating the UFC from the fringes of sports to the mainstream of pop culture.“They’re going to have eight or nine championship fights, the biggest fights they’ve ever had,” Trump told reporters in December at the Kennedy Center Honors. “Every one is a championship fight, and every one is a legendary type of fight. (White is) actually holding back fights right now for six months so he can do it for 250.”Instead, Freedom 250 has seven fights in total, headlined by two title bouts that aren’t the most prestigious or most star-driven matchups the UFC could have showcased.President Donald Trump has attended numerous UFC live events over the years, most recently in April. (Photo: Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images)Ilia Topuria is a heavy favorite against Justin Gaethje in their headlining lightweight title bout. Yet Topuria himself said he expected a more challenging test against Islam Makhachev, which could have been a showdown between the top current pound-for-pound fighters. In the co-main event, Alex Pereira of Brazil is moving up to heavyweight to try to win a belt in his third weight class. But his clash with Ciryl Gane of France is for just an interim title because Tom Aspinall, the division’s undisputed champion, is injured and angling for a new deal.Also absent are Jon Jones, whose most recent public move was asking for a release from his longtime UFC contract, and Conor McGregor, who is by far the biggest star in mixed martial arts but is fighting in July instead.“I was disappointed,” Bryce Bury, 15, said Friday night as he watched the bizarre scene of a UFC news conference complete with fighter faceoffs at the base of the Lincoln Memorial. “I mean, we were promised like 10 title fights, a lot.”Bury and his mother, Linda, who lives in the Washington area and said her son was training in mixed martial arts and hopes to go pro in three years, stood at a barricade in front of hundreds of fans who waited through stormy weather to get a glimpse of the fighters verbally sparring. Bury’s voice was hoarse and he was optimistic about the heft of Sunday’s event even as he lamented that he wouldn’t get to see fights with McGregor or Jones.“It’ll be monumental. It’s going to be very big and very popular. It’ll be all over the news and stuff,” Bury said. “I just think it’s because of how crazy the idea was of hosting a UFC event on the South Lawn.”White has called Freedom 250, which falls on Trump’s 80th birthday, the most important event in the company’s history. Videos displayed during the news conference on Friday night showed historical UFC highlights, from the 1990s to the modern era, digitally superimposed over Washington’s most famous structures, including the Capitol, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.“We are going to pull off the boldest idea in sports history,” White said in one of the sizzle reels that will likely be broadcast to millions of viewers with the fights on Paramount+.