Dana White snubbed as A-list celebrities turn down UFC Freedom 250 invitations

UFC Freedom 250 is just eight days away and the 4,300 seats on the White House's South Lawn are gradually being filled.

Dana White is heading up the unique event, which will take place on June 14 under a stars-and-stripes canopy on the grounds of the seat of the United States government, such as it is.

The blockbuster card is part of the celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and coincidentally happens on the 80th birthday of Donald Trump.

Freedom 250's fight card sees Alex Pereira take on Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight championship seven months after Pereira won the light heavyweight belt back from Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320 in Las Vegas.

American Justin Gaethje will be in action in the main event. The 37-year-old faces Ilia Topuria for the lightweight championship in the last fight of the night.

The audience on the South Lawn will be made up of military personnel, celebrities and fight-loving dignitaries, with White personally assigned 300 tickets to hand over to invited guests.

According to an interview with Time, his guest list includes Adam Sandler, Guy Ritchie, Tom Brady, Jared Leto, Jason Statham, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Mario Lopez.

White's invitations haven't all been accepted.

Vanity Fair reports that: "A source close to The Rock tells Vanity Fair that he will not be attending. Representatives for Sandler, Leto, and Lopez say they won’t be either. Reps for the others did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The White House and UFC did not respond to requests for comment about the guest list.

"The caution speaks to a growing trend in Trump’s second term.

"As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, a monumental milestone in the nation’s history, the events scheduled to ring in the semiquincentennial are increasingly seen as tainted by the tawdriness, hyperpartisanship, and self-obsession that have been hallmarks of Trump’s political career."

Trump's Tour Eiffel

Trump, 79, has compared the temporary edifice erected in his garden to the Eiffel Tower, which was constructed in Paris as part of the World's Fair late in the 19th Century and was also intended to be a short-lived structure.

"It was supposed to be taken down immediately after the World's Fair," said the President. "And then they said: 'Leave it up a little bit longer, and then they said, 'let's leave it up longer and longer and longer.'

"Well, they never took it down, and you know we're building something in front of the White House that's quite attractive to a lot of people. Really, it's going to have the big UFC fight on June 14, and I'm looking at it and maybe we'll never ever take it down."