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Justin Gaethje claims lightweight crown at White House on Donald Trump birthday
Justin Gaethje claimed the undisputed lightweight title as he beat Ilia Topuria in the UFC Freedom 250 bill in front of United States President Donald Trump at the White House.
Gaethje provided an American victory to round off the night, which coincided with President Trump’s 80th birthday, inflicting a first loss on his Georgian-Spanish opponent when the fight was stopped in the fourth round.
The two fighters began their walkouts from the Oval Office at the event to mark America’s 250th anniversary of independence.
Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, British boxer Tyson Fury, UK ambassador to the US Sir Christian Turner, FBI director Kash Patel and speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson were among the well-known faces in the crowd at the specially-constructed Octagon.
The president and UFC chief Dana White walked together from the Oval Office to the Blue Room Balcony to survey the arena.
UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland, who had said he was not invited to fight because of opposition to Israel, was escorted away from the Ellipse area before the bill by US Park Police.
In the night’s other top fight, France’s Ciryl Gane defeated Brazil’s Alex Pereira in the second round to take the interim heavyweight title.
Heavyweight Derrick Lewis, who was invited to fight on the bill by Mr Trump, suffered a second-round stoppage as former American footballer Josh Hokit floored him with a combination in the second round.
Sean O’Malley knocked out Canada’s Aieman Zahabi in the second round of their bantamweight fight, but there were knockout losses for fellow Americans Michael Chandler at lightweight and Steve Garcia (featherweight) against Brazilian duo Mauricio Ruffy and Diego Lopes.
Ruffy proposed to his girlfriend, who gave him a thumbs up, after the fight.
Bo Nickal, who won his middleweight clash with Kyle Daukaus in the first round, left the Octagon for a chat with the president after his win.
