WASHINGTON (AP) — UFC fighter Josh Hokit was decked out in an American flag bandana and American eagle gloves as he unleashed vigorous trash talk ahead of the company’s White House debut.
Sean O'Malley earned American style points for dressing in red — his hair and suit — and blue — dress shirt, tie and, well, hair again — and Michael Chandler visualized accessorizing his fight night walk-out before he dished out a patriotic pounding draped in an American flag.
“For me to walk from the White House to the octagon to represent America, to represent myself, to represent just who I am and what this country means to me,” Chandler said, “it’s just a dream come true.”
The usual foul-mouthed fight hype from UFC's American fighters ahead of their prime-time debut Sunday on the White House grounds largely yielded to bursts of national pride Wednesday.
O'Malley, known as much for his cornucopia of colors that turn his locks into rainbows or cotton candy tops as his fight skills, tried to downplay the week and called it business as usual. In the next breath, O'Malley confessed fighting on a UFC card on the South Lawn was indeed “epic.”
Hokit, meanwhile, wasn't about to modify his style on the microphone just because he will fight in the mixed martial arts show timed to coincide with President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and the celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
"You'll never see me apologize for anything I do,” Hokit said.
Well, the heavyweight is in the right city for that declaration. He was one of several fighters who added a dash of brashness and boldness in the nation's capital just four days before the surreal juxtaposition of pummeling and patriotism set for Trump and UFC boss Dana White's big-fight vision of UFC Freedom 250.
Forget the Washington Monument. The claw, the temporary arena structure that houses the eight-sided cage, is the buzziest landmark this week in DC.
Weather is a slight concern for fight night
Umbrellas were a necessary accessory around Washington early Wednesday and the threat of heavier rain later in the week, which could dampen both a scheduled press conference at the Lincoln Memorial as well as fight night, was the only true concern ahead of the fight card.
White, who helped launch UFC into a global sports empire, insisted inclement weather will not keep the spectacle from proceeding as scheduled.
“We're going to be good on Sunday,” White said this week. “I don't care if it snows, rains, we're going. Even lightning. You guys all played sports when you were growing up. Whenever there was lightning, you'd sit the lightning out. When it was over, you played. That's what we'll do.”
Two titles at stake on the South Lawn
While the South Lawn setting normally reserved for low-contact events like the annual Easter Egg Roll is the real star of the show, there are two championship fights set for the Paramount+ show.
In a card that has been panned by fans online as underwhelming, Brazil’s Alex Pereira will meet France’s Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC heavyweight title. Then Spanish-Georgian lightweight champion Ilia Topuria takes on interim champ Justin Gaethje, one of just two Americans who currently hold even a share of the UFC’s 11 championship belts.
Middleweight Bo Nickal was a three-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion at Penn State who was awed when he met Trump in 2019 at the White House during a ceremony for collegiate national champions.
"The president said hello to all the teams,” Nickal said Wednesday. “When he got to us, he was all excited because he likes wrestlers. He talked to us for maybe 10, 15 minutes because he likes chatting.”
Nickal is set to fight on the main card Sunday against Philadelphia fighter Kyle Daukaus. Nickal called fighting on the show a “massive opportunity,” and one he may have manifested back in that 2019 meeting.
“I told him at that time in 2019 that I was going to fight at UFC,” Nickal said. “He asked if I needed an agent. He’s put in a good word for me, obviously, getting on this card.”
The bulk of UFC's roster seemingly threw their names on the ballot and hoped to get the call they would fight in front of the president.
Chandler, the 40-year-old Missouri native, laughed when he said he would feel “as high as kite in the best way possible” on his way to the cage. He was thrilled when he earned a lightweight bout against Mauricio Ruffy.
“Even if you're not watching, you've heard about this card, whether you like to admit it or not,” Chandler said.
White not fazed by federal lawsuit
Not everyone is on board with fighters commandeering the same South Lawn where Dwight D. Eisenhower once put in a putting green.
A federal lawsuit filed Saturday by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of two Virginia residents contends the Trump administration’s authorization of the event was unlawful. The lawsuit says such approval violated National Park Service regulations prohibiting sporting events on federal parklands, Congress did not consent to the towering arch overlooking the event space and no environmental review was conducted before the construction.
White, a long-time friend and former business associate of Trump's from the days when Boardwalk cards at Trump Taj Mahal lifted UFC into relevancy, brushed off the idea the lawsuit could halt the fight card.
“We were expecting a lawsuit,” White said. “We expected everything coming into this event. We thought it would be sooner. We knew it was going to come. We didn't know who or how, but we knew it was going to come.”
___
AP MMA: https://apnews.com/hub/mixed-martial-arts
