The official announcement of the UFC White House event’s fight card has generated a range of reactions from both fans and fighters. Set to unfold during the America Freedom 250 celebration on June 14th on the White House lawn, the six-bout event features two world title fights. However, former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling voiced his significant disappointment with the announced lineup.
On his YouTube channel, Sterling questioned the quality of the card, stating, “It’s only six fights, and that’s the best six fights that they could make?” This sentiment comes after President Donald Trump previously indicated the event would feature all title fights, and UFC CEO Dana White promised the “best fight card” in the promotion’s history. Sterling believes the UFC matchmakers fell short of these ambitious declarations.
“That’s what they said they were going to do. They said that. We didn’t do that,” Sterling remarked. He specifically critiqued the bantamweight bout featuring Sean O’Malley. While acknowledging O’Malley’s presence, Sterling suggested that a matchup against Cory Sandhagen would have been far more meaningful. “The O’Malley fight is cool if it were [Cory] Sandhagen. That’s a fight that means something,” he explained, clarifying that his comments were “no slight” to Aiemann Zahabi, O’Malley’s announced opponent, who is getting a great opportunity. However, Sterling had hoped for “more of the higher ranked guys” and a fight between “two, long, rangy strikers that are great at moving their feet compete while they’re in their prime.” He emphasized making such marquee matchups before they lose their relevance.
Sterling continued, “You have this marquee matchup that you could make on this card. Sandhagen’s been calling for it for a long long time and then you decide, ‘Oh, here’s Zahabi.’ I don’t really get it.”
His criticism extended to the Michael Chandler fight. While understanding Chandler’s patriotic appeal, Sterling found the matchup against Ruffy perplexing. “The [Michael] Chandler fight, I get he’s American, diehard American and all of that. That’s cool, very patriotic. But him and Ruffy just doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense other than you’re trying to give Ruffy a big step up. Cool. It’s still a fun fight, but it’s not the fight that, to me, doesn’t really mean much,” he stated. Sterling suggested that Ruffy should have faced a different opponent on the card to create a fight with “title shot implications or something.”
In conclusion, Sterling reiterated his overall feeling of unmet expectations. “You say you’re going to deliver a big massive card. I just know if this is exactly it,” he mused. “I’m not trying to nitpick the whole thing. I just expected a little bit more, I don’t want to say name value, but fights that mean something at the highest point of each division that they bring to the table. I just think there was a couple more fights that they could have probably did instead.”
