Tensions have risen between the headliners of this week’s UFCWhite House event, with Justin Gaethje and Ilia Topuria trading insults about divorce and family.
On Sunday, Topuria will defend the UFC lightweight title against interim champion Gaethje, as they meet in the main event of a unique fight card on the South Lawn.
The event is a celebration of 250 years of the United States, and it coincides with the 80th birthday of US president Donald Trump. As such, six of the seven bouts will feature US fighters – including Gaethje, whose opponent is of Spanish and Georgian heritage.
And things have begun to get personal between the White House headliners, with Topuria hitting back at Gaethje over an alleged comment on “El Matador”’s recent divorce.
“All that guy is, is a gimmick,” Gaethje said recently. “He calls himself the king, he thinks he’s a God. What an annoying little b*****d. I couldn’t imagine being in a room with him for 30 minutes, listening to him talk about himself.
“And I can say this: I would leave him. That’s all I’m saying: I would leave him. No way I would put up with his s***.”
Topuria responded on Monday, writing on X: “Justin crossed a line. What happened between my ex-wife and me is our business. We may no longer be together, but she is the mother of my daughter.
“To everyone insulting her or speaking about things they know nothing about: show some respect. You don’t have to respect our relationship. But respecting someone’s mother should be one of the most basic codes in life. Be better.”
Gaethje, 37, soon replied: “Proving my point. Insufferable little b***h boy. Never said a thing about your wife. You want to speak words to my father then act like I crossed some line. We already fighting buddy.”
Addressing Gaethje’s remark about his own father, Topuria, 29, said: “You should’ve kept your father out of this. He was the one calling me a short guy and saying you’d smash me, all while holding a beer in his hand. Then you started talking about my divorce and telling the world you wouldn’t want to be my roommate.
“Idiot. First, we’re fighting, not dating. Second, I’m not looking for a roommate. When I put you to sleep and you’re lying there next to the rose, I’ll look at your father and ask him one simple question: Who’s the short one now? I’m gonna break you Justin.”
Topuria was referencing a white rose that he plans to hold in the Octagon after his fight with Gaethje, if he beats the two-time interim champion. Topuria is undefeated, and he has held a red rose in his recent post-fight interviews, declaring the flower a tribute to his beaten rivals.
In his most-recent fight, Topuria knocked out Charles Oliveira to win the vacant lightweight belt in June. Oliveira is a former UFC champion, like Topuria’s two preceding opponents: Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski.
They also fell to El Matador via knockout, as Topuria stopped Volkanovski to win the featherweight title in 2024 and did the same to Holloway to retain the belt later that year.
Meanwhile, Gaethje last competed in January, dominating Liverpool’s Paddy Pimblett to win a decision and claim the interim lightweight strap.
Gaethje previously held the interim title in 2020, but he failed to unify the belts when he fought then-champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Nurmagomedov submitted Gaethje, who lost his second undisputed-title fight by the same means in 2022, when he fought Oliveira.
Sunday therefore marks the “Highlight”’s third shot at the undisputed lightweight belt.
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