Matt Brown doubts UFC White House will live up to the hype, confident Conor McGregor won’t be a part of it: “They don’t have the stars”

UFC veteran Matt Brown has cast serious doubt on the hype surrounding the upcoming UFC White House Card, dismissing claims that it will be the greatest event in the promotion's history. In a candid interview with MMA Fighting, the 45-year-old fighter, known as “The Immortal,” argued that the UFC lacks the star power of its past eras and predicted the June 14 event will fall short of expectations.

Brown directed sharp criticism at UFC CEO Dana White, Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell, and the rest of the matchmaking team, insisting they cannot deliver on their bold promises. He emphasized the absence of former two-division champion Conor McGregor from the card, accusing promoters of leveraging the Irish superstar's name purely for marketing purposes despite no confirmed participation.

“They don’t have the stars that they used to have, and Conor’s not fighting on it. I don’t give a f*ck what anybody says. I don’t care what he says. I don’t care what Dana says. They’re using him to promote it and using his name to get it out there… He’s not fighting on that sh*t, bro, and even if that is signed and a done deal, I’m not going to believe it until he is inside the octagon and a punch is thrown. Even on the walkout, I am gonna be like something is going to happen here. When a punch is thrown, I’ll be like ‘All right, I guess he’s fighting,’” Brown stated unequivocally.

The fighter's skepticism extends beyond McGregor's involvement to the structure of the event itself. Reports indicate the UFC White House Card will feature only 6-7 fights, a limited lineup that Brown views as a high-stakes gamble in a sport prone to unpredictability.

“I think that’s a risk to take to only be doing 6-7 fights because you know the sport. You can get 6-7 boring fights real easy. I can’t think of 6-7 fights that are that gigantic,” Brown remarked, highlighting the challenge of assembling a stacked card with blockbuster matchups in such a condensed format.

Brown's outspoken assessment underscores broader concerns within the MMA community about the UFC's ability to recapture the electric star-driven appeal of its peak years, even for a high-profile occasion like the White House Card.