Sean Strickland may not be attending the UFC White House card this weekend, but according to UFC CEO Dana White, it has nothing to do with being banned from the event.
The UFC middleweight champion recently claimed he was barred from attending the historic White House show because of his criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump, particularly regarding Trump’s stance on Israel and the ongoing conflict involving Iran.
In a social media post, Sean Strickland alleged that his outspoken views led to his exclusion from the event.
“The only male American champ banned at the White House because I said Trump is owned by [Benjamin Netanyahu],” Strickland wrote. “That’s not public opinion, it’s fact.”
However, Dana White quickly dismissed those claims and insisted that Strickland was never banned from the event.
“Everybody’s banned apparently. Apparently f****** everybody is banned,” White joked during a media scrum on Tuesday.
“Of course, Sean Strickland isn’t. Sean Strickland is banned from humanity. We don’t want him near any human beings anywhere. He shows up at Power Slap and starts fights.”
“He made it very clear he didn’t want to be a part of this event, and now apparently he’s banned. Nobody is banned. Nobody’s music is banned. No media members have been banned. The list goes on and on.”
While Sean Strickland may not be among those attending the event, White stressed that the reason has more to do with space limitations than any personal disagreement.
The UFC White House card is expected to be one of the most exclusive events in the promotion’s history. White explained that seating capacity is extremely limited, with only a small number of tickets available for fans, media members, and invited guests.
“This is obviously a very unique event where, first of all, there’s only so much room,” White said.“Our head of public relations was telling me there are 1,000 media members credentialed at the White House. We can’t have all 1,000 media members show up for this thing.”
“There are only 4,300 seats available. Literally, nobody has been banned from this event.”
White also addressed reports that some media outlets and even fighters had been restricted from participating. Rumors recently circulated that featherweight contender Diego Lopes had been forced to change his walkout music before fight night.
According to White, those reports were also inaccurate.
“There’s a lot of bulls*** floating around out there right now,” White said. “Nobody is banned. Nothing is banned.”
“I want as many people as possible to be inside this thing and experience it. If we could have added more seats, I would have done more. That’s why we opened up the Ellipse.”
