The UFC announced Saturday that lightweight champion Ilia Topuria will face Justin Gaethje in the headliner of the UFC White House card June 14 that is dubbed Freedom 250.

The co-main event will be Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane for the UFC interim heavyweight title in the hotly anticipated event that will be part of a celebration of America’s 250 years of independence.

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Numerous names were floated as possibilities for the promotion’s historic event, which parent company TKO said will cost $60 million with expected losses of around $30 million. But with the announcement we finally have clarity on the high-profile event.

“This card was a lot more difficult to get to the finish as anticipated, but we got it done,” UFC CEO Dana White said. “You know, like we said last night, the matchmaker was literally in the office all night last night working on this thing. It’s done. We’ll let it roll. Here we come, Washington, D.C.”

Topuria, 29, is an undefeated sensation who has knocked out all-time greats Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira in his last three bouts.

Gaethje, 37, defeated Paddy Pimblett in January to claim the interim lightweight title.

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Pereira, 38, relinquished his UFC light heavyweight title last week, which portended something was in the works.

“[Pereira] moving up to take on a guy like Ciryl Gane? The way that these two fight, it’s gonna be very, very interesting,” White said. “And should he win the fight, then we figure out what’s going on with Tom Aspinall and it could be him vs. Aspinall.”

Pereira, a former middleweight champion as well, regained his light heavyweight title with a first-round TKO of Magomed Ankalaev in October 2025.

Gane, 35, is a former interim heavyweight champion who lost his title to Francis Ngannou in 2022 and then lost another title shot to Jon Jones in 2023.

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UFC Freedom 250 full card

Lightweight: champion Ilia Topuria vs. interim champion Justin Gaethje

Interim heavyweight title: Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane

Bantamweight: Sean O’Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi

Lightweight: Mauricio Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler

Middleweight: Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus

Featherweight: Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia