Sean O’Malley has heard enough from UFC insiders to believe the White House card on June 14 is going to be something unlike anything the promotion has ever produced.
The former UFC bantamweight champion is scheduled to fight Aiemann Zahabi on the undercard of UFC Freedom 250, the event taking place on the White House lawn to mark 250 years of American Independence. O’Malley shared what he has been hearing from people within the organization on his YouTube channel.
“The White House card, I was in Vegas this weekend, talked to a lot of UFC people, a lot of UFC staff,” O’Malley said. “They were like, ‘This is going to be insane.’ They were kind of giving me a little rundown, nothing really that I could share, but just their excitement is what I was taking away. They were like, ‘We walked it, it’s crazy.'”
He acknowledged that significant logistical questions remain unanswered, including who will be permitted to attend given the security requirements surrounding the venue. “
The Secret Service alone is going to be insane. I still don’t know who’s going to be allowed in. I don’t know if family is going to be allowed. I have no idea.”
O’Malley framed the event as a potential turning point for how the UFC approaches large-scale outdoor productions.
“A lot of moving pieces. If they can pull this off, then the opportunities are endless. Where do you go next? The colosseum? If they can perfect an outdoor show, that could change things.”
This will not be O’Malley’s first experience with a landmark UFC setting. He headlined the UFC card at the Sphere in September 2024 before losing the bantamweight championship to Merab Dvalishvili at Noche UFC 306.
