Former UFC title challenger Darren Till has seemingly lost interest in watching the UFC, and that includes this Sunday’s scheduled event at The White House.
Provided that adverse weather or a lawsuit filed during fight week don’t derail proceedings in some way, “UFC Freedom 250” is set to go ahead with a seven-fight card on the South Lawn of The White House on Sunday, June 14.
The event has been billed as part of the celebration of the 250th birthday of the United States, but rather than hold an event on July 4th (a Saturday, the typical day for UFC cards) the promotion has scheduled “UFC Freedom 250” for President Donald Trump’s birthday.
Darren Till explains lack of interest in UFC White House event
The card does feature two of the UFC’s biggest stars in Ilia Topuria and Alex Pereira, but even their title respective title bouts with Justin Gaethje and Ciryl Gane apparently aren’t enough to garner interest from former UFC star Till.
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“Not too interested, sorry,” Till told Ariel Helwani when asked about the White House card. “I still stand the same as I’ve been, I just don’t think there’s that much hype around the UFC no more…I don’t get excited for fights, whereas I used to. I don’t know why that is. Maybe it’s not being promoted right. I don’t like saying this, ‘cause he is a good guy and stuff – but I’ve just really gone off every interview that Dana does. I can’t watch any interview to do with him anymore, I just can’t.”
In addition to the lightweight title unification bout between Topuria and Gaethje and interim heavyweight title fight between Pereira and Gane, the White House card also includes former bantamweight titleholder Sean O’Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi.
The event is rounded out by Mauricio Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler, Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus, Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia, and Derrick Lewis vs. Josh Hokit. The Lewis vs. Hokit fight wasn’t part of the originally-announced six fight card, but was reportedly added at the request of President Trump due to his fandom of “The Black Beast”.
“The Gorilla” successfully debuted with BKFC last month
Now well over four years removed from his decision to willingly leave the UFC and pursue other opportunities, Till has only competed four times but is undefeated during that period.
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“The Gorilla” brought an undefeated record into a welterweight title shot against Tyron Woodley at UFC 228, where he was submitted in the second round. A follow-up losses to Jorge Masvidal encouraged Till to move up to the middleweight division, where he defeated Kelvin Gastelum before suffering three-straight losses to Robert Whittaker, Derek Brunson, and Dricus du Plessis.
Darren Till during his fight with Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson (Per Haljestam/MMA Junkie)
The 33-year-old was inactive for more than two years following the loss to Du Plessis and his exit from the UFC due to a cancelled matchup with Julio César Chávez Jr. before he knocked out Anthony Taylor in his debut for Misfits Boxing in early 2025.
Till followed that with another win over UFC veteran Darren Stewart before he knocked out former UFC middleweight titleholder Luke Rockhold to win the Misfits bridgerweight belt last August. In May, he made his bareknuckle boxing debut with BKFC and knocked out Aaron Chalmers in the second round.
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