Dana White issues statement after UFC star claims he is banned from White House event

Dana White has hit back at claims that a UFC champion has been banned from attending the upcoming card at the White House.

In the early hours of Monday morning, the UFC will host a historic event taking place on the White House South Lawn in Washington DC.

Lightweight champion Ilia Topuria will defend his belt against interim champion Justin Gaethje in the main event, with former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira looking to become the first-ever three weight champion in the co-main event as he faces Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title.

Ahead of the event, the UFC has spent up to $60m (£44.3m) on the one-of-a-kind event which will be attended by US President Donald Trump and a crowd of around 4300 guests.

However, one man who will not be there is current middleweight champion Sean Strickland, who has claimed that the promotion had banned him from the event because of comments he has made about Trump, Israel and the Epstein Files.

But now UFC President and CEO White has hit out at Strickland, stating that he has not been banned, while admitting that the UFC don't typically like him being around anyone.

Speaking on Tuesday, White claimed that the only reason attendance would be restricted would be because "there are only 4,300 tickets".

He added: "Of course Sean Strickland isn't banned [from the event]. Sean Strickland is banned from humanity. We don't want him near any human beings anywhere."

Strickland is arguably the most controversial figure in the UFC at the moment having made several derogatory comments about women as well as homophobic and racist remarks.

READ MORE: UFC star Sean Strickland responds after use of racial slur at MMA event

"He shows up at Power Slap and starts fights," White added.

"He made it very clear he didn't want to be part of this event, and now he's banned apparently – nobody is banned.

"Nobody's music is banned, no media members have been banned. The list goes on and on. Nobody's banned. Nothing's banned."

Sean Strickland responds to Dana White's comments

Unsurprisingly, it didn't take long for Strickland to react to White's claims, as he took to social media to claim that it was the White House that had banned him from attending.

Posting on X, he wrote:"To Dana saying I wasn't invited... I'll clarify for this to you.

"After my fight Hunter said he will get it done. UFC filmed it and embedded has the footage.

"I later got a call from the UFC saying I wasn't cleared by the white house."