Dana White's Boss Defies Donald Trump Claim With Major UFC White House Update
Ari Emanuel, CEO of TKO Group, has given a major update.
Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: UFC, Dana White, Donald Trump, MMA
Ryan Smart
Topics: UFC, Dana White, Donald Trump, MMA
UFC chief executive Ari Emanuel has provided a major update on the upcoming White House card - appearing to dismiss a claim made by US President Donald Trump.
The special UFC event is set to take place on June 14, and will be hosted at the White House's South Lawn in Washington D.C.
Trump announced the event back in July, with UFC president Dana White confirming in August that it would indeed take place.
No fights have yet been announced, though a number of high-profile names have been tipped to be featured on the card.
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Those include Jon Jones, Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler, with former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen recently claimed that Chandler was 'guaranteed' to be named on the card against an unknown opponent.
President Trump said in December that the UFC were planning 'eight or nine championship fights' on the card - though there was naturally speculation among fans that he was exaggerating in order to hype up the event.
"They're gonna have eight or nine championship fights, the biggest fights they've ever had," Trump said.
"Every one's a championship fight, and everyone's a legendary type of fighter.
"He's [Dana White] actually holding back fights right now, for six months, so he can do it for 15 [14] June."
Trump went on to further claim that the arena would have '5,000 or 6,000 seats' for the events, and '100,000 people in the back, where they're putting up eight or 10 very big screens'.
Speaking on 'The Pat McAfee Show', UFC chief executive Ari Emanuel has outlined his company's plans for the event - which contradicts the two claims previously made by the President.
"At the White House, I think it's 3,000-4,000 [fans], then there will be more in other areas," the CEO of TKO Group said.
"Dana's working on it right now. There's gonna be approximately six-seven fights on June 14.
"He hasn't said to us what the card's gonna be but I know they're working pretty hard on it right now."