Tag: UFC Freedom 250

Daily Update: WWE shareholder suit update, lawsuit filed over UFC Freedom 250

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Among the topics covered:

  • Mexico City becomes the battleground of wrestling in September. We look at the strategies, the decisions going into a period when the city will host four major shows and seven major arena shows in eight days.
  • WWE attempts to counter program Forbidden Door with NXT Great American Bash. A look at the numbers the last time and trying to figure out why it would be tried again
  • The most publicized UFC show in history comes to the White House. Can it beat Rousey vs. Carano numbers, can it beat NFL numbers, how it got started and plans for the show.
  • AAA Noche de los Grandes, full review of the show and the make-up of the viewership and how it’s changed over the last year, as well as thoughts on the mask vs. mask match that tore down the house
  • The WWE stockholders lawsuit against the WWE key higher ups goes to trial this week. We look in depth of what is being asked, why, and give background on everything involved in the case
  • WWE Clash In Italy coverage and business numbers
  • Ben Askren wins Gaspard/Huber award and returns for one last match
  • Odds for King and Queen of the Ring
  • How much has Nielsen’s new ratings method hurt the value of pro wrestling on television? We have pretty much the figures, plus the shocking real comparisons for AEW Dynamite last week with recent years
  • Full ratings report for the pro wrestling programming, competition, comparisons, and more,.
  • Arena Mexico coverage with lots of big matches this coming week
  • NOAH tag team tournament news
  • Best of the Super Juniors coverage
  • Top young star getting shoulder surgery
  • Japanese MMA legend wins pro wrestling tournament
  • The future of Lucha Libre in 2036 on display this past week
  • Ticket sales for all the major upcoming pro wrestling shows this summer
  • A crazy indie story involving Jacques Rougeau
  • RAF booking a major event in Tbilisi
  • More on Damo & Nikki Cross buying Progress
  • Lots of Mick Foley AEW talk
  • How the Von Erichs viewed the A&E Biography
  • Another judge upset with TKO executives not saving evidence
  • McGregor return ticket prices go crazy, although not Knicks crazy
  • Robbiers in boxing or just bad judging
  • Notes on Smackdown going forward
  • Examing what Nick Khan said about 2024 WrestleMania plans
  • George Barrios claims he talked Vince McMahon into running Saudi Arabia after the Kashoggi death
  • Punk on talks to go back to WWE in 2018

This Week’s Back Issue

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Sunday Update

UFC Freedom 250 fan fest
Logo for UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest. (Image credit: UFC)

— Bryan and I will be back tonight talking about the WWE settlement, great weekend matches, Best of the Super Juniors, Jones vs. Cormier, Hulk Hogan documentary and more. Our week in review show with Garrett Gonzales is up on the site talking about WWE booking, Nick Khan comments, and much more.

— The shareholders’ lawsuit against Vince McMahon, Nick Khan, Paul Levesque, George Barrios and Michelle Wilson, that was to start tomorrow, has been settled, although not completely formalized. Brandon Thurston reported that the parties have informed the court that they will present the settlement for approval by Judge Travis Laster. The McMahon side really had to settle for a number of reasons that include the fear that a trial would end up worse for them, while the plaintiffs removed the risk of the trial going badly for them. The judge’s recent ruling showed that he felt the defendants lost a great deal of credibility due to their erasing messages after their own lawyers told them to preserve them. It looked bad for the WWE side but it was not a lock. The other from the McMahon side is that in the story of the sale, the Janel Grant lawsuit would have come up and he, and perhaps others, would perhaps give testimony that would hurt McMahon in that case.

— A lawsuit has been filed by Paul Romano, a retired Air Force Sergeant and Vietnam veteran, and Susan Douglas, a civic activist and organizer attempting to stop this coming Sunday’s UFC show. They claim it is a violation of federal law for profit sports promotions to run on the White House lawn. They claim it is a violation of national park service agreements which prohibit sports events on federal parks lands and that the staging set up on the White House lawn has had no congressional authorization, a requirement for building on federal parklands. They also complain about the cost to taxpayers of repairing the lawn. They also in the suit note that Trump purchased TKO stock. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, DC. They are not suing Trump or TKO, but suing the National Park Service, Regional Director of the National Park Service Jen Nersesian, Acting Director Jessica Bowron, the U.S. Department of the Interior and Doug Burgum, the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

— Yoh won the Best of the Super Juniors tournament earlier today at the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo over Kosei Fujita. It was an excellent match, very hot pro-Yoh crowd. The match was actually a much better technical version of A.J. Styles vs. John Cena from last year. Well, on the Yoh side where he did move after move of the top stars. Fujita did the usual Fujita. Yoh will face Douki for the IWGP jr. title soon, probably Dominion on 6/15. Also added to Dominion was Jake Lee vs. El Phantasmo in a no DQ match after an angle today.

— Hiroshi Tanahashi announced the fan awards for the tournament. Jun Kasai was voted Most Outstanding overall, Daiki Nagai was voted Best Fighting Spirit and Robbie X was voted Best Technical.

— Obviously if Steve Maclin asked for a release from his TNA contract, which he did last week and was approved, he’s likely headed to WWE or AEW.

— Arman Tsarukyan claimed today that he placed a $1 million bet on Justin Gaethje to win the UFC lightweight title from unbeaten Ilia Topuria at the White House show. Tsarukyan was on a live stream talking about betting $50,000 on the fight, but then got talked into making it $1 million. After all the issues with UFC fighters and gambling, this is not something that should be allowed.

— The best matches I’ve seen this weekend are Komander vs. Soberano Jr. from Friday night at Arena Mexico, Komander & Templario vs. Angel de Oro & Volador Jr. from last night at Arena Coliseo, Mistico & Mascara Dorada & Neon vs. Zandokan Jr. & Furia Roja & Difunto from Friday night which was Mistico’s return, and Yoh vs. Fujita.

— Challenges were issued on Friday for a Sammy Guevara & Beast Mortos ROH tag title defense against Villano III Jr. & El Hijo de Villano III. My impression is that match will take place this coming Friday night, but the lineup won’t be out until probably Monday or Tuesday.

— Komander goes for the hat trick tonight teaming with Mistico against Volador Jr. & Black Tiger in tonight’s main event. Tonight’s show also has Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr. vs. Mortos & Guevara in a non-title match. Lady Frost from MLW has been on the CMLL major shows all weekend.

— Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows won the A block in the NOAH Neo Global Tag League with a win over Tetsuya Naito & Bushi today in Hirosaki. They will face the B block winners on 6/16 at Korakuen Hall. Right now there is a three-way tie for first in the B block with Yoshiki Inamura & Stallion Rogers, Naomichi Marufuji & Kenoh, and Yuki Iino & Manabu Soya.

— Jun & Rei Saito won All Japan’s world tag team titles from Talos & Ren Ayabe yesterday in Kakuda.

— We’re looking for reports on the NXT weekend shows in Davenport, FL and Citrus Heights, FL as well as TV tapings for TNA in Denver, results, finishes and angles to [email protected]

— Not much in the way of Google searches this weekend with no major events. Yesterday’s UFC show did 110,000 searches. Nobody in general was talking much about wrestling as regarding active wrestling, Myla Grace was the most searched item with 2,000.

— Grand Slam Mexico, CMLL Anniversary, WWE Raw, WWE Smackdown and AAA TripleMania tickets all went on sale in the next two days. For Grand Slam Mexico, the cheapest seats are almost double that of last year, at $36, while the most expensive is up from $655 U.S. to $1,312. Anniversary tickets are $22 to $260. Raw and Smackdown are $73 to $891. TripleMania is $36 to $537.

— UFC has announced a new rankings system in the works that will reward performance and reflect results inside the Octagon and based on measurable performance instead of opinion or popularity. Good luck with that.

— Last Saturday’s Collision did 351,000 viewers and 0.07 in 18-49 in Nielsen panel ratings, a rare case for wrestling of being down in total audience but still up in 18-49 from the 360,000 and 0.05 from panel + Big Data.

— WWE returns to the U.S. tomorrow in Baltimore with Raw with Penta vs. Rey Mysterio for the IC title, and previously announced qualifying matches with Seth Rollins vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Talla Tonga vs. Ricky Saints and Liv Morgan vs. Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Chelsea Green.

— Jerry Jaffe, who was also Crazy Luke Graham Jr., is 79 today. Mick Foley turned 61. Ed Farhat, the original Sheik and one of the best drawing heels in history, was born 100 years ago today. His longtime manager, Abdullah Farouk/Grand Wizard/Ernie Roth, was born on this day in 1929. Superstar Billy Graham was born on this day in 1943. Howard Finkel was born on this day in 1950. Bulldog Don Kent passed away 33 years ago today at the age of 59. Charlie Harben passed away 33 years ago today at the age of 79. Earthquake John Tenta was 42 when he passed away 20 years ago today. Rocket Monroe was 69 when he passed away 16 years ago today. Mark Starr was 50 when he passed away 13 years ago today. The Iron Sheik was 76 when he passed away three years ago today.

 

The Rock not attending UFC White House event

Posted on by Joseph Currier

He was invited by Dana White, but Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson won’t be attending UFC’s upcoming event at the White House.

A recent feature story on White published by Time magazine noted that the UFC boss had invited several celebrities, including Johnson, to attend UFC Freedom 250 in Washington, D.C. Vanity Fair followed up by trying to find out if those celebrities would be attending, with a source telling them that Johnson will not be there. It wasn’t stated whether Johnson has a scheduling issue or a different reason for declining the invitation.

“A source close to The Rock tells Vanity Fair that he will not be attending,” Vanity Fair wrote. “Representatives for [Adam] Sandler, [Jared] Leto, and [Mario] Lopez say they won’t be either. Reps for the others did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The White House and UFC did not respond to requests for comment about the guest list.”

Tom Brady, Guy Ritchie, and Jason Statham were the other celebrities White mentioned as being invited to the June 14 show. UFC says there will be approximately 4,300 attendees in the crowd, including at least 1,200 active duty military members.

WWE involvement at UFC Freedom 250 weekend —

Johnson has a seat on the board of directors for TKO Group, the parent company of UFC and WWE. There will be some WWE wrestlers in Washington, D.C. that weekend with Charlotte Flair, The Miz, Trick Williams, Chelsea Green, The Usos, Tiffany Stratton, and Bron Breakker announced for meet and greets at the UFC Freedom 250 fan fest.

The fan fest is taking place at The Ellipse just outside of the White House, while UFC is staging the actual fights on the White House’s South Lawn. Here is the announced main card:

UFC Freedom 250 (Sunday, June 14 on Paramount+) —

  • Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje for the UFC lightweight championship
  • Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane for the UFC heavyweight championship
  • Sean O’Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi
  • Josh Hokit vs. Derrick Lewis
  • Mauricio Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler
  • Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus
  • Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia

Daily Update: WWE shareholder lawsuit update, UFC Freedom 250, Arena Mexico notes

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • The most detailed look at the sale of New Japan, what happened, the glory days that Bushiroad built and why it came down and what led to the sale.
  • Business realities of Japanese wrestling today.
  • The reason for the surprising low sale price.
  • The shareholders lawsuit against Vince McMahon and the WWE Board of Directors is getting near. Judge Travis Laster orders sanctions against Nick Khan and Vince McMahon for destruction of evidence. Laster makes a ruling, and we look at it in detail, on how this changes the trial and the exact details of the destruction of evidence including when McMahon and company knew not to do it and ignored their own lawyers. Also we look at problems with the case.
  • AEW Double of Nothing coverage. Business notes, historical biggest gates in U.S. pro wrestling, three-time world champions by 30, how the PPV did, poll results, Mick Foley and more.
  • Did Ronda Rousey set a viewing audience record for MMA, plus coverage of Rousey vs. Carano, how everything goes forward, can things be sustained, can she fight, will she fight, her thoughts on AEW.
  • Scott Coker returns to MMA with a new promotion.
  • Marcel Barthel (Ludwig Kaiser) arrested.
  • A look at the career of Jerry Grey.
  • The most detailed look at the ratings for all the TV shows over the past two weeks.
  • Mistico injury update.
  • How CMLL is doing this year compared to last year.
  • Natalia Jiminez and J Balvin appear and are part of CMLL shows.
  • Wrestlers vs. media soccer game.
  • Grande vs. Grande match looked at.
  • Major return to Stardom.
  • Champion Carnival finals.
  • NOAH tag team tournament.
  • New Japan Best of the Super Juniors tournament.
  • Hana Kimura tribute show.
  • Phil Hickerson passes away.
  • WCW announcer is the final anchor as CBS News Radio closes its doors after 99 years.
  • Death of the Laguna version of Piloto Suicida.
  • Junior Hodge Trophy winner.
  • Advance ticket sales for all major events in AEW, WWE, TNA and other indies.
  • Pro wrestler/fighter on the Rousey-Carano undercard.
  • WWE stars purchase promotion.
  • Tony Khan media appearances.
  • More thoughts on how Paramount/Skydance can affect AEW.
  • What can affect the time slot of Collision in 2027.
  • What’s next for AEW.
  • AEW star to return in the fall.
  • Latest Zuffa myths regarding Trump and UFC.
  • UFC fighter pay comes up again

This Week’s Back Issue

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Friday Update

CMLL logo
CMLL logo (Image credit: CMLL)

— Garrett Gonzales and I have our week in review talking about the current issue of the Observer and latest news show being taped today. My weekend show with Bryan will be Sunday after Clash in Italy.

— Judge Travis Laster, who is in charge of the shareholders lawsuit against WWE, ruled in favor of reporter Brandon Thurston’s challenge regarding documents WWE was attempting to keep sealed. Thurston challenged WWE’s attempt to keep evidence confidential and not to be reported on, including a voicemail message from Ari Emanuel to Vince McMahon. There were key deposition questions regarding discussion of the Wall Street Journal’s sources regarding sexual misconduct claims.

WWE lawyers argued according to Post Wrestling, which Thurston writes for, that the information could have unfavorable or reputational consequences such as weakened negotiating position or public embarrassment. They also argued it could create damages to professional relationships within and outside WWE, harm to an individual identified and would erode confidence among stakeholders. Laster ruled those arguments were not sufficient and the information must be revealed stating that the defendants’ harm was outweighed by the public interest in the information. The conversation Thurston was trying to get access to was part of the one where Emanuel had claimed he could go to lawyers he knows and help get the criminal investigation against McMahon regarding sex trafficking to go away.

— Tonight on USA will have the SmackDown taped this afternoon from 8-11 p.m., WWE: Made in America, a documentary at 11 p.m. and the first episode of Braun Strowman’s Everything on the Menu at midnight.

— The Huffington Post reported that Donald Trump has purchased between $15,001 and $50,000 stock in TKO Holdings. He made the purchase on 3/26. This leads to major conflict of interest claims given his having the show at the White House.

— The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon is recruiting hundreds of troops to appear as spectators at the UFC show at the White House on 6/14. However, those who attend are required to pay their own way and have to meet height and weight requirements to attend. Those attending must meet acceptable waist-height ratios and be physically fit, and are required to wear short-sleeve dress uniforms. Neither UFC nor the defense department will cover arrangements or accommodations. In fact, this event is the U.S. equivalent to Collision in Korea, except it won’t draw as much, and has far less star power.

— We’re looking for your thoughts on Sunday’s Clash in Italy. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

— Arena Mexico tonight has changed its main event. The Copa Juniors finals is now Villano III Jr. vs. Zandokan Jr., who finished third in last week’s elimination match. Atlantis Jr., who was to face Villano III Jr. in the finals, blew out his knee on Sunday. At first he was advertised for the show but he was later in the week pulled from the show. They still sold out yesterday. The rest of the show has Mascara Dorada & Volador Jr. vs. Esfinge & Averno, Los Calaveras Jr. I & II & Soberano Jr. vs. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja & Cobarde, El Hijo de Blue Panther vs. El Hijo del Villano III, Tessa Blanchard & Skadi vs. Olympia & Sanely and Oro Jr. & Pantera Jr. & Pendulo (who is like a second cousin of Eddy Guerrero) vs. Estudiante Jr. & Robin & Sangre Infernal.

— Villano III Jr. said that if he wins the Copa tonight, he would like to put it at stake against Atlantis Jr., when he’s healthy.

— Salvador Lutteroth was at Double or Nothing on Sunday.

— The first CMLL Wednesday night show at Arena Mexico (they’ll be running almost every Wednesday in June and July) starts this week. No word on if it will be streamed live, nor do we have a lineup.

— Mistico has said that he hopes to be back by next Friday’s show. He had a huge knee brace on when talking on Informa Wednesday night. He said he has not been cleared. It was also noted on the show that he has dates scheduled for AEW & New Japan. We knew he’d be in AEW soon and I suspect something big for August, if not June. He’s part of the junior tag champions in New Japan so he’d have to be back there soon. He had been advertised to appear signing autographs last night in Pachuca, and he had been making his dates and doing signings. However, the promotion announced just before show time that every effort was made with them and CMLL, but due to the severity of the injury, he would not be appearing. He said he would appear in Pachuca as soon as he can to make up for this.

— On AEW Spanish language commentary, Carlos Cabrera said Grand Slam Mexico would be in August, which confirms that we had been told it would be after the end of July but before school starts. AEW has tapings already announced 8/12 and 8/26, leaving 8/5 and 8/19 open. I suspect the announcement will come relatively soon.

— AAA Noche de los Grandes on YouTube from Arena Monterrey tomorrow night at 10 p.m. Eastern:

  • Grande Americano vs. Grande Americano mask vs. mask
  • Pagano & Psycho Clown vs. War Raiders for AAA tag titles
  • El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. El Hijo del Vikingo for the Latin American title
  • Laredo Kid vs. Rey Fenix for the cruiserweight title
  • Lola Vice & Catalina & Bayley vs. Flammer & Maravilla & La Hiedra (this will be taped for 6/6)

The show is scheduled for 90 minutes.

— Two corrections from the current issue. Regarding the advance for the 6/11 MLW show at the Melrose Ballroom in New York, we listed it as sold out. It is not sold out. They can get 912 in the building. Also, we said Fabian Aichner told Jon Alba that he had a TNA contract into the summer. Alba, who did talk with Aichner, said he got the contract info from another source.

— The Best of the Super Juniors continues later tonight at 2 a.m. Eastern time from Takaoka. The tournament matches are Jakob Austin Young vs. Hyo, Yoh vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Robbie Eagles vs. Daisuke Sasaki, Kushida vs. El Desperado and Sho vs. Taiji Ishimori.

— Today’s results from Tsubame for B block matches:

  • Hyo (6) b Yoshinobu Kanemaru (6)
  • Master Wato (10) b Daiki Nagai (0)
  • Robbie X (8) b Ryusuke Taguchi
  • Nick Wayne (8) b Titan (10)
  • Kosei Fujita (8) b Valiente Jr. (4)

— UFC is in Macau for a show that starts late tonight at 4 a.m. Eastern:

  • Loma Lookboonmee (115) vs. Jacqueline Amorim (115.5)
  • Zhu Kangjie (145) vs. Rodrigo Vera (145)
  • Angela Hill (115) vs. Xiong Jing Nan (115.5)
  • Rei Tsuruya (135) vs. Luis Gurule (135)
  • Aoriqileng (135) vs. Cody Haddon (135)
  • Ding Meng (170.5) vs. Jose Souza (170.5)
  • Yi Zha (185) vs. Luis Felipe Dias (184.5)
  • Alex Perez (125.5) vs. Sumudaerji (126)
  • Jake Matthews (170) vs. Carlston Harris (170.5)
  • Kai Asakura (135.5) vs. Cameron Smotherman (135.5)
  • Sergei Pavlovich (257) vs. Tallison Teixeira (250)
  • Zhang Mingyang (205) vs. Alonzo Menifield (206)
  • Song Yadong (136) vs. Deiveson Figueiredo (135.5)

— Eddie Hearn has asked Dana White to release Tom Aspinall from his contract, saying that he will pay Aspinall a minimum of three times what he’s getting in UFC, and that White should be happy for a working class man to be able to earn so much more money.

— TNA has announced for 6/28 Slammiversary in Boston (this will be an afternoon show to avoid AEW) that Mike Santana defends the TNA title against Eddie Edwards, Cedric Alexander, Leon Slater and others in an Ultimate X match, Lei Ying Lee defends the Knockouts title against Xia Brookside and there will be a ladder match on the show.

— Thursday’s TNA TV has The Hardys vs. The Righteous in a Wicked Garden match, Santino Marella & Indi Hartwell vs. Stacks Lorenzo & Arianna Grace and Edwards vs. BDE.

— Ricky Sosa vs. Amazing Red takes place for House of Glory Wrestling on 6/19 at the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago.

— Zuffa Boxing announced a 7/26 show at the Infosys Theater in Madison Square Garden.

— A two-hour episode of MLW Fusion will air tomorrow at 6:05 p.m. on YouTube, 9 p.m. on Veeps and 10 p.m. on beIN Sports. This was the show taped in Orlando with Trevor Lee vs. Austin Aries, Alex Hammerstone vs. Bishop Dyer, Shotzi Blackheart vs. Priscilla Kelly, Scarlett Bordeaux vs. Aleah James and more.

— Among today’s birthdays are Samu Anoa’i turning 63, Pete Gas turning 56, Steve Corino turning 53, Brian Kendrick turning 47, Nia Jax turning 42, Hornswoggle turning 40, Josh Alexander turning 39 and Konosuke Takeshita turning 31. Man Mountain Dean, a major drawing card in the 1930s, died 73 years ago today at 61. Tarzan Goto died four years ago today at 58. (thanks to Tony Richards)

— Metro in the U.K. had an interview with TNA announcer Tom Hannifan today. He said that when he announced the Kofi Kingston WWE title win over Bryan Danielson, he did not know Kingston was going to win the title. He also said that Michael Cole and Lance Storm have been huge helps to his career. (thanks to Matt Barker)

Charlotte Flair says she did not know about UFC White House fan fest signing

Posted on by Shounak Chakrabarti

Multiple WWE wrestlers, including Charlotte Flair, were recently announced for the Freedom 250 White House fan fest signing.

Despite the huge announcement and involvement of several WWE names, Flair recently revealed that she was not aware of the signing before she saw the social media announcement.

Speaking with TMZ’s Inside The Ring for a new interview, she addressed her appearance at the Freedom 250 signing.

“I saw online, and then I was like, ‘Well, I guess I won’t be wearing my Queen outfit that I had.’ I had my spray painted and bedazzled outfit that I was going to wear to the signing because it was just a signing,” Flair added. “Then it said White House signing and I’m like, ‘So, are we going to the White House?’ No, but I really did not know what we were doing until I saw it on Twitter. I was like, ‘Oh, oh.’ I guess my thoughts changed a little of what I had planned for the weekend.”

Which WWE wrestlers are set to be part of the UFC Freedom 250 fan fest signing?

On the May 18 episode of WWE Raw, it was announced that a few WWE wrestlers will be present at the UFC Freedom 250 fan fest on June 14, 2026, at the White House.

The meet and greet will feature several popular WWE names such as Charlotte Flair, The Miz, Trick Williams, Chelsea Green, The Usos, Tiffany Stratton, and Bron Breakker.

Chelsea Green responds to backlash over UFC White House fan fest appearance

Posted on by Joseph Currier

On social media today, Chelsea Green responded to the backlash she’s received over being included in UFC’s Freedom 250 Fan Fest.

It was announced on Monday that several WWE names will have meet and greets at the fan fest, which is happening in Washington, D.C. during the weekend of UFC’s White House event. Green is among those set to appear, and she’s received criticism from fans given that the political stances she’s publicly taken do not align with those of the current administration.

One fan on X accused Green of prioritizing money over her support of trans rights. In response, Green framed this appearance as a job obligation and said she will continue to advocate for the causes she cares about.

“Doing my job and supporting the community are not mutually exclusive,” Green, who is originally from Canada, wrote. “I’ll continue to do what I can to advocate for human rights whether you approve or not. [heart emoji]”

Green is one of the wrestlers that WWE most frequently uses for public and media appearances like this. Last year, she received similar backlash from fans for speaking positively about Hulk Hogan on the day of his death and not addressing the racism controversy that Hogan was involved in. That situation led to Green taking a social media break due to name calling and death threats.

WWE wrestlers at UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest —

Green, Charlotte Flair, The Miz, Trick Williams, The Usos, Tiffany Stratton, and Bron Breakker are the WWE wrestlers announced to appear at this event. It’s taking place from June 13-14, and having WWE stars present during the weekend is seemingly aimed at maximizing public interest given how significant this is to WWE & UFC parent company TKO. UFC is hyping its fight card as being the “most historic sporting event of all time.”

The fan fest will take place at The Ellipse just outside of the White House, with the June 14 fights set to be held on the White House’s South Lawn. At the fan fest, there will be a ceremonial weigh-in, live shows with UFC fighters, celebrity appearances, and live music including a concert by Zac Brown Band.

WWE names announced for UFC White House fan fest

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Several WWE names have been confirmed for the fan fest that’s being held during UFC’s Freedom 250 weekend.

It was announced on Monday that meet and greets with WWE stars would be part of the June 13-14 fan fest that’s taking place in Washington, D.C. during the weekend of UFC’s White House card. No specific names were mentioned in the initial announcement, but WWE confirmed on Raw last night those taking part will include Charlotte Flair, The Miz, Trick Williams, Chelsea Green, The Usos, Tiffany Stratton, and Bron Breakker.

“Hey folks, get ready for two unforgettable days of non-stop action at the UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest,” Michael Cole said. “Don’t miss immersive fan experiences, live shows featuring UFC athletes, celebrity appearances, exclusive on-stage music, and more. Plus, meet and greets with your favorite WWE Superstars including Charlotte Flair, The Miz, Trick Williams, Chelsea Green, The Usos, Tiffany Stratton, and Bron Breakker.”

The fan fest is being held at The Ellipse, a park located just outside of the White House. Tickets to the fan event are free, but attendees must request them and then enter a random draw that will determine who gets tickets.

WWE and UFC are sister companies under the TKO Group umbrella. This White House event is a significant moment for TKO, with UFC hyping it as the “most historic sporting event of all time.” It’s happening as part of the United States’ 250th birthday celebration. The actual fights will be held on the South Lawn at the White House.

UFC Freedom 250 (Sunday, June 14 on Paramount+) —

  • Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje for the UFC lightweight championship
  • Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane for the UFC heavyweight championship
  • Sean O’Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi
  • Josh Hokit vs. Derrick Lewis
  • Mauricio Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler
  • Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus
  • Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia

UFC announces full White House ‘Freedom 250’ card

Posted on by Josh Nason

The full card for the much-discussed UFC Freedom 250 card at the White House this June has finally been revealed and will continue to be discussed after the announcement.

Announced during Saturday’s UFC 326 broadcast, the Sunday, June 14, 2026, event will feature two title fights with one of them featuring Alex Pereira gunning for his unprecedented third UFC title in three divisions.

The main event will feature UFC lightweight champion and one of their top stars in Ilia Topuria defending against interim champion Justin Gaethje.

In the co-main event, former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Pereira facing Cyril Gane for the interim heavyweight title and not Jon Jones as many had speculated. On Saturday night, news broke that a fight fell off the show with speculation now shifting to that which is unconfirmed as of this writing.

Former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley will take on Aiemann Zahabi while former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler will fight Mauricio Ruffy.

The six-fight show is rounded out by Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus, and Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia.

The show will feature no female fights, no Jones, and no Gable Steveson as some has speculated as the impetus to sign him to a UFC deal. The initial response on social media was less than enthusiastic.