Former bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley voiced his desire to be part of the UFC White House event quickly after the event was announced in July 2025. “Suga” didn’t think he was going to be featured at the event as recently as three weeks ago.
The fight promotion officially announced the UFC White House fight card on Saturday during the UFC 326 broadcast and O’Malley’s name was part of it.
“You guys heard it. You guys saw it. It’s true,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel. “I’m fighting Aiemann Zahabi. A lot of people are going to say, ‘How did this fight come about?’ Here’s the God’s honest truth. I told the UFC, I would love to fight at the White House. I will fight anybody at the White House. I will fight Ilia [Topuria]. I will fight Islam [Makhachev]. I will fight Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. No, but for real, I said I want to fight on the White House card. Please let me fight on the White House card. I don’t care who it is. I want to be on there. I want the opportunity.
“I fought at the Sphere, which is really cool. The White House, I think there’s six fights on the UFC White House card. There’s me plus 11 other people that get to make the walk from the Oval Office. That’s what they’re saying. You walk from the Oval Office into the White House lawn. It’s honestly hard to even wrap your head around. It doesn’t even feel like it’s reality,” continued O’Malley.
“It’s going to be interesting. I don’t know how people feel about the White House card, who’s watching, a lot of politics around it. For me, this is an opportunity for me to go out there and have millions of people that might have never watched a fight see me because they’re watching the White House card. I was just like, please let me be on this card.”
Although he didn’t know until late in the process, UFC matchmakers granted O’Malley his request to fight at the historic event. He now transitions into preparation mode.
“I like it. I’m happy. I’m excited. 14 weeks, plenty of time. I’m pretty sure it’s on a Sunday, June 14,” he said. “We’re fighting on Trump’s birthday.”
“This card, a once-in a lifetime opportunity. I’m going to go out there. Aiemann’s a great matchup. He’s on a seven-fight win streak. Dude’s a kickboxer. He’s a dog … He brings the fight. He’s tough as f*ck. He’s hard to put away. Seven-fight win streak. He’s not going to come out there and shoot, try to wrestle. We’re going to give the fans a fight to remember. This one’s going to be a good one.”