Since President Donald Trump’s announcement that the UFC will host an event at the White House in 2026, there has been a lot of speculation regarding who could top the card.
Jon Jones has teased a U-turn on his recent retirement after announcing that he’s back in the UFC’s testing pool following this major reveal.
Even Conor McGregor has expressed interest in making his long-awaited return for an event that is sure to pull out all the stops to match the occasion.
While the PFL also want in on some White House action, an event like this will be unlike any other night in the history of the sport.
There are plenty of great fights that wouldn’t necessarily make sense for this particular card, as two UFC legends recently discussed when talking about potential options.
Chael Sonnen calls for Jorge Masvidal vs Nate Diaz as the main event for UFC White House
On a recent episode of ESPN’s ‘Good Guy / Bad Guy’, Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen pitched ideas for the main event of the UFC’s White House card.
Cormier outlined some potential issues with matchmaking this card because of the need for it to prominently feature American fighters.
With Kayla Harrison being the sole American UFC champion right now, there aren’t too many options that immediately spring to mind.
Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall might be the fight that the fans want to see but as Cormier pointed out, you’re then risking the chance that an event which is celebrating Independence Day ends with an English fighter getting his hand raised.
In response, Sonnen had a slightly outside the box matchup that he pitched which, as Cormier said, would certainly attract some interest due to the names involved.
Sonnen recalled that Donald Trump was in attendance for UFC 244 in November of 2019, so running that main event back by having both men return to the Octagon could be an option.
“We happened to have two absolute studs out there but they weren’t fighting for a belt so they created one called the BMF. I believe we could rematch Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz and we could do it on the White House lawn.”
Daniel Cormier pitches his own UFC White House main event between two Americans
Daniel Cormier had a pitch of his own for the UFC White House main event, though he did state that this would be a suitable headliner for a Fight Night card rather than a numbered PPV.
‘DC’ selected two American fighters that both come from highly-credentialed wrestling backgrounds and are two of the most patriotic athletes in the sport.
Neither Michael Chandler nor Colby Covington are in their primes anymore so while it may not be the most high-level fight you could make, the two personalities involved would make it a solid pick for the card, even if it’s not the main event.
“If it’s a Fight Night, why not Chandler vs Covington? That works, right? If it’s a Fight Night. American flag over the back, Colby carrying it out like this. We’re at the White House. That’s the type of fight you need… I like the idea of two Americans walking at the end.”