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UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell has added his voice to the chorus of critics taking issue with the upcoming UFC event at the White House. Mitchell said that the government is “supposed to protect us, not entertain us.”
The controversial UFC Bantamweight fighter — who’s made headlines in the past for his conspiracy theories and antisemitism, which included Holocaust denial — ripped the UFC Freedom 250 event scheduled for June 14 on the South Lawn of the White House.
The event is tied to President Trump’s 80th birthday — on June 14, the same day the fight will be held — and America’s 250th anniversary. The fight will be headlined by Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje.
Additional fights on the card include Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane, the co-main event for the Heavyweight Interim Title, Sean O’Malley vs. Hamza Zahabi, Bo Nickal vs. Chris Daukaus, Michael Chandler vs. Ricky Ruffy, Caolan Lopes vs. Diego Lopes, and Hokit vs. Derrick Lewis.
UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell rips the upcoming event at the White House, says the government is supposed to “protect us, not entertain us”
“Our government is to protect and serve the people and really should be as minimal as possible. When you’re doing all this stuff, hosting sporting events, it’s really outside of what the goal of government was intended to be because our tax dollars and resources are funding this operation,” Mitchell said.
“And like I said, I’m not criticizing the UFC. I love Dana [White]. I love Hunter [Campbell]. I love Sean [Shelby], Mick [Maynard]. I love all of them. And it’s an amazing thing. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. But the government should never be hosting sporting events because there’s more room for corruption and we already have a corrupted government. And so, that’s my thoughts on it is the government is supposed to protect us, not entertain us.”
Bryce Mitchell gives his thoughts on #UFCWhiteHouse.
“The government is supposed to protect us, not entertain us.” pic.twitter.com/qEuNDcF0cb
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) June 3, 2026
After saying in 2024 that he would “take a bullet and die” for Trump, Mitchell has said that the UFC was trying to “make people worship Donald Trump” and called Trump an “antichrist” figure.