The UFC’s upcoming White House card, penned UFC Freedom Fights 250, was announced by Dana White on Saturday, March 7 – with Jon Jones and Conor McGregor both excluded.
The veteran stars were expected to feature on the card by fans, due to the event previously labelled as potentially the biggest event in the sports’ history.
However, it was not to be, with the card officially set to showcase current star fighters Ilia Topuria and Alex Pereira.
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Card breakdown
Current undisputed lightweight champion Topuria returns to the octagon to headline the event after having taken time off due to personal reasons.
The Georgian is set to go up against current interim-lightweight-title holder Justin Gaethje, who clinched a victory over Paddy Pimblett by unanimous decision at UFC 324 for the belt.
Furthermore, Pereira moves up a weight class for his clash with number-one ranked heavyweight Cyril Gane after the Brazilian recently relinquished his light heavyweight belt.
The fight is considered the event’s ‘big seller’ as Pereira looks to become a three-weight-division champion. A feat held by no other in the sport, past or present.
Elsewhere, ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley looks to find himself back in the bantamweight title picture with a potential victory over Aiemann Zahabi in the feature fight.
Number-13 ranked lightweight Michael Chandler aims to better his 2-5 record in the UFC when he clashes with number-nine ranked Mauricio Ruffy.
Middleweights Bo Nickal and Kyle Daukaus meet in the second fight of the card, with featherweight contender Diego Lopes opening up the card against Steve Garcia.
Lopes will have a short turnaround time after his second loss to champion Alexander Volkanovski by UD at UFC 325 on February 1.
Jones and McGregor absent
White commented on the exclusions of both Jones and McGregor at the UFC 326 post-event presser.
On Jones, he said: “The Jon Jones thing is bullsh*t. “I’m not saying they (the UFC) weren’t talking to Jon Jones and that Jon Jones wasn’t interested in the fight.
“What was even crazier was Jon Jones came out and was like, ‘I’m in negotiations right now for the White House card,’ after I had already sent a text to his lawyer saying, ‘Never going to happen ever.'”
On McGregor, White was more optimistic on his potential return, but a return that will not be on the White House card.
White confirmed that they (the UFC) are “definitely talking to Conor” but that his return to action is “not even close” to being finalised.
UFC Freedom Fights 250 is set to take place on Sunday, June 14.
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SportJustSport writers 
Nicole Powell