WASHINGTON — By the time Justin Gaethje pummeled his bloodied foe to a pulp and celebrated a championship win with a backflip off the top of the wire-mesh cage, then shook hands with President Donald Trump — and even fist-bumped Melania — this much about his company's future was clear to the ultimate boss of UFC: Just say no to the White House."It was an amazing, experience, this was a one-of-one," UFC CEO Dana White said."It will never happen again."Oh, not because the show dubbed Freedom 250 and ostensibly held to celebrate Trump's 80th birthday and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence's signing wasn't by White's accounts a smashing success.He crowed about merchandise sales and streaming service subscriptions and how UFC surpassed its goals in every metric he could list at a news conference that stretched well into the dawn's early light Monday.And the setting?Forget it, almost impossible to top on a night when fighters essentially treated their walkouts like they were kids on a class trip.
The all-male lineup toured the West Wing, the Oval Office, walked past presidential portraits, through the Roosevelt Room, the Cabinet Room — and the winners even got a meet-and-greet with Trump.Gaethje skimmed the copy of the Declaration of Independence that hangs in the Oval Office and said a prayer before he made the unusually long walk to the cage.Gaethje battered Spanish-Georgian fighter Ilia Topuria in the main event and won the UFC lightweight title."Usually, I kind of blank out when it comes to getting ready to walk to the cage," Gaethje said.
"It was pretty crazy, looking at the Declaration of Independence.The original one.
Their language was different.I'm not smart enough to read that."Gaethje also banked a whopping $825,000 in bonus money for winning "Performance of the Night" and "Fight of the Night" honors.Trump stayed until the end of the seven-card show and generally seemed engaged with the fights — at one point he put on a white...