In perhaps the biggest upset in UFC history, Gaethje becomes champion after Topuria’s corner stops fight.
Published On 15 Jun 2026
American Justin Gaethje turned the tables on Ilia Topuria to claim a shock win and take the lightweight UFC crown at the “UFC Freedom 250” event on the lawns of the White House.
After Topuria (17-1) edged a thrilling first two rounds on Sunday night, Gaethje (28-5) stunned the Spaniard with a crunching right hand before following it up with a brutal flurry of jabs that left his opponent’s face swollen and bloodied.
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Topuria appeared to have trouble seeing and was checked by a doctor before continuing through the fourth, but his corner threw in the towel before the final round.
“I cannot even believe it … I knew I was going to have to get through the first round, his skills are unmatched when he’s fresh,” Gaethje said.
“But my durability, my tenacity and my heart were going to carry me through.”
The bout headlined the first professional sporting event to be hosted at the White House, a key part of US President Donald Trump’s celebrations of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
In the co-main event, France’s Ciryl Gane dominated Brazil’s Alex Pereira before scoring a stunning second-round knockout win to become the interim UFC heavyweight champion.
Pereira, a former light heavyweight and middleweight champion, was looking to become the first UFC fighter to win titles in three divisions after stepping up to heavyweight.
O’Malley beats Zahabi, Hokit stops Lewis
Sean O’Malley backed up his status as one of the US’ most popular mixed martial artists, defeating Aiemann Zahabi with a walk-off knockout that will be a staple of UFC highlight reels for years to come.
O’Malley, always the showman, gave a military-style salute to the crowd of service members and the president’s invitees as Zahabi (14-3) was falling to the canvas. The win puts O’Malley (20-3) firmly back into bantamweight title contention and he’ll likely be next up for champion Petr Yan, whom he called out in his post-fight interview.
Josh Hokit continued his rise up the heavyweight division, backing up his viral and controversial fight-week antics by finishing the UFC’s knockout king, Derrick Lewis, with an extended combination of punches at 4:09 in the second round.
It was a dominant performance from Hokit through and through, as he nearly finished Lewis (29-14) multiple times in the first round as well to improve to 10-0.
Mauricio Ruffy of Brazil’s esteemed Fighting Nerds registered another statement performance, stopping 40-year-old Michael Chandler at 4:29 in the first round of their lightweight bout. Ruffy (14-2) hurt Chandler (23-11) with a stunning roundhouse kick and ended the fight with a handful of finishing blows to Chandler’s head.
The fight could very well be the end of Chandler’s UFC career and essentially diminishes any chance he had at fighting Conor McGregor in the future, whom he was reportedly in line to face with a victory.
Bo Nickal earned his second straight victory, finishing fellow American Kyle Daukaus with a vicious right followed by a series of elbows at 4:34 in the first round in their middleweight fight. Nickal (9-1), a former All-American wrestler at Penn State, has now finished three of his six wins in the UFC by KO/TKO and is 6-1 in the UFC since his 2023 debut. Daukaus fell to 17-5.
After an hour-long delay due to rain, Brazilian featherweight Diego Lopes knocked out Albuquerque’s Steve Garcia with an explosive combination of punches at 2:42 in the second round.
It was an impressive come-from-behind effort by Lopes (28-8), who was unquestionably losing the featherweight fight before Garcia (19-6) made the decision to trade punches with him.
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