Bryce Mitchell defended Sean Strickland’s free speech argument after Strickland said he was blocked from the UFC Freedom 250 White House card, but Mitchell did not reject the event itself.
Mitchell was asked at UFC Vegas 118 media day about Strickland being banned from the White House for talking about Israel. His answer focused on speech first.
“I’m not surprised at all. I mean, it you know, freedom of speech is what really makes this country great. And when you can’t criticize a foreign nation, a foreign nation, come on, man. We ought to be able to criticize our own nation, let alone a foreign nation. In fact, that’s the only nation you’re not allowed to criticize. You know, so something’s going to change because evil empires don’t last forever. There’s always a rebellion. You ever seen Star Wars? That’s what’s going to happen, bro. Darth Vader’s going to get took down.”
Watch Mitchell’s full media day interview below:
Mitchell Separates The UFC Opportunity From The Government’s Role
UFC Freedom 250 is scheduled for June 14, 2026 at the White House in Washington, D.C. The card is tied to the 250th anniversary of the United States and is expected to be held on the South Lawn.
Mitchell corrected the idea that he did not want to be involved. He said he would take a spot if the UFC needed him and if he was healthy.
“I do want to be on the card.”
“First off, I ain’t jealous at any of those fighters. I’m so happy for those fighters. I don’t think you could have got a better main event. Um I’m happy for every single last fighter on that card. Um if they need me to fill in, if I’m healthy, hey, I’ll do it. Um for the UFC, I think it’s great. It’s it’s beyond great. It’s literally the perfect scenario.”
His criticism was aimed at the government hosting the event, not at the UFC accepting the platform.
“But what I think personally is that our government is desecrating uh its role in society by entertaining sports. Um our government is to protect and serve the people and uh really should be as minimal as possible. And when you’re when you’re doing all of this stuff, hosting sporting events, um it’s really outside of what the goal of the government was intended to be because our tax dollars and resources are funding this operation.”
Mitchell then named UFC officials directly while explaining that his issue was with public resources and government responsibility.
“And like I said, I’m not criticizing the UFC. I love Dana. I love Hunter. I love Shawn, Mick. I love all of them. And it’s a it’s an amazing thing. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. But the government should never be hosting sporting events because uh there’s more room for corruption and we already have a corrupted government. And so that’s my thoughts on it is that the government is supposed to protect us, not entertain us.”
