UFC Freedom 250: Gaethje stuns Topuria at the White House live online: updates, results, and highlights

It's been a long road, but Justin Gaethje is a world champion. Finally he will get the recognition that he deserves as the best fighter in the lightweight division. 

At 37 years old, the 6-1 underdog beats the undefeated world champion Ilia Topuria. It's his first world championship in his long career, and what better place to do it than at the White House in front of the president. 

There was word out of Topuria's corner that they weren't going to throw in the towel, but someone in the corner made the overriding decision and just like that Justin Gaethje took the lightweight title and handed Topuria his first lost ever. 

Topuria had his moments in which he looked like he had Gaethje on the ropes but Gaethje took it took him all fight. Even when he looked rattled he looked dangerous. 

The first round went back and forth as both fighters came out looking to end the night early. 

Here you see Topuria bloodied early in the first round and his face took a nasty beating tonight from the White House. 

Apparently it wasn't Topuria who stopped the fight, it was someone in his corner. He was bloodied in the first round, swollen by the end of the second and mangled by the end of the fourth. 

THAT WAS AN ABSOLUTE BATTLE FROM START TO FINISH AND THE 37 YEAR OLD IS THE LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS CAREER!!!

IT'S OVER!!!!!!!!

JUSTIN GAETHJE IS THE NEW LIGHTWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPION AFTER TOPURIA TOLD HIS CORNER HE COULDN'T GO ON!!!

Gaethje lands a huge knee to Topuria's ribs and he that ends the fourth round!!!

Topuria gets Gaethje to the ground and had him pinned but some how the American got out of it. 

Gaethje with an uppercut and that backed Topuria up from his stance for a second. 

Topuria to the body and that landed square to the ribs of Gaethje. 

Topuria lands a big right hand out of nowhere and that might give the champ a little wind. 

Gaethje tosses Topuria to the ground but he bounces back to his feet. 

The 4th round has started despite Topuria being absolutely destroyed. 

That might have given Topuria a little more time to catch his breath. 

The doctor just came out and wanted to measure just how bad his vision is. The doctor told the ref to call it, but somehow we are carrying on. 

Ilia just went to the corner and told his corner he can't see. They asked if he wants to continue, and he said yes, of course. This is a wild title fight. 

Gaethje caps an incredible third round with a head kick as the bell rings. 

Right hand from Gaethje and that hurt the champ. 

An uppercut from Gaethje and it's Topuria hanging on for dear life now. 

Gaethje landing another couple of blows and Topuria hasn't done anything in this third round. 

He got back to his feet but he is bloodied and battered. 

A 1-2 from Gaethje connects and drops Topuria. Topuria is in trouble!

Gaethje landing a couple jabs as Topuria looks like he is running on fumes. 

Both of these guys seem a little winded coming out of the round change. 

Round three has started from D.C. 

WE ARE AT THE END OF THE SECOND ROUND

Topuria looked like he was going to end it but Gaethje survived the round by holding on after going to the ground. 

Topuria trying the triangle and then the arm bar, but Gaethje holds on strong and looks like, he has gathered himself with less than a minute to go in the 2nd. 

Topuria hurt Gaethje with a big punch and he's got him down on the ground now. 

Topuria landing a couple of nice 1-2 combos but Gaethje seems to be answering with everything the champ throws at him. 

These dudes are swinging for the fences and don't be surprised if one of these lands on the button and ends this fight in the blink of an eye. 

Second round is underway and let's see if this round starts like last round ended. 

WHAT A FIRST ROUND THAT WAS. 

BOTH OF THESE TWO GOING AFTER IT FROM THE START. BOTH HAD STINTS WHERE THEY LOOKED THE MORE DANGEROUS BUT THE BLOODIED FACE OF TOPURIA MIGHT SUGGEST THAT GAETHJE HAD THE BETTER FIRST ROUND. 

Great exchange between the two as they put caution into the wind and just started to throw haymakers. 

Head kick to Topuria is absorbed and he counters with a couple of big punches to Gathje. 

Big swinging right hand to the ear of Topuria and he follows it up with another big right hand. 

Topuria unaffected by the blood as he continues to throw jabs that are connecting. 

Topuria is bloodied over his right eye after an uppercut by Gaethje. 

Big right hand from Topuria might have just rang the bell of Gaethje just over a minute into the fight. 

Gathje landed a nice jab out of the gate but Topuria came back with a couple of leg kicks. 

HERE WE GO!!!

The bell rings and we are underway here from Capitol Hill. 

The undefeated, undisputed lightweight champion of the world taking on a 37 year old looking for his first world championship. 

Maybe the best pound for pound fighter in the world comes to the ring as we get ready for this lightweight title fight. 

Now it's Topuria's turn to make his way to the octagon. The final fighter to walk through the White House on this historic night, and we are just minutes away from starting this last bout for the lightweight title. 

Here comes Justin Gaethje. He is one of the most exciting fighters not just in this division but in the world. He fights with a reckless abandonment that many fighters could only wish to have. His fights are spectacular and this is one is bound to be filled with fireworks. 

It was a flurry of knockout blows that Pereira fought off until he couldn't any more. Gane takes the interim heavyweight belt as the Brazilian comes up short in his quest to conquer three different divisions. 

Gane closed it out in the second round. Pereira hung in tight and looked to keep his feet after getting rattled but Gane was relentless and forced Herb Dean to put an end to the title bout. 

NEXT UP IT'S WHAT EVERYONE CAME TO SEE. TOPURIA AND GAETHJE IN THE FINAL FIGHT OF THE NIGHT. 

CIRYL GANE IS THE NEW INTERIM HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!!!

IT'S ALL OVER!!!

Pereira was wobbled and Gane continued to attack, and continued waiting for Herb Dean to stop the fight. He kept on going until finally the ref put an end to Pereira's misery. 

GANE WITH A MASSIVE PUNCH TO THE FACE OR PEREIRA!!!! 

He went to ground and somehow the Brazilian got back to his feet. 

WE ARE AT THE END OF THE FIRST ROUND AND PEREIRA GETS ONE LAST BLOW TO THE HEAD OF GANE IN THE FINAL SECONDS. 

Big head kick from Pereira but Gane counters with a kick to the mid section of the Brazilian. 

Gane connects with a right hand to the jaw of Pereira who shakes that off quickly. 

Both guys starting this first round exchanging some leg kicks. Not too many jabs are connecting for these two fighters with very long reaches. 

Pereira with an early high kick to the face of Gane to get us going. 

OUR CO MAIN EVENT IS UNDERWAY!!!!

Don't tell Pereira this is one of the biggest fights of his lift. He seemed awfully loose in the warm up room back in the White House. He is making his way to the octagon now. 

We have just two more fights to go. It's the big boys to start us off in this co-main event. Gane and Pereria going blow for blow for the interim heavyweight title. 

The Interim Heavyweight title is on the line in the next fight between Alex Pereira and Cyril Gane. Perira has a chance to become the first fighter to win belts in three different divisions tonight at the White House. 

It was a left hand right to the nose of Zahabi and they landed one more just for good measure before giving the military salute in the White House lawn. 

It wasn't a great first round but you could see O'Malley getting comfortable towards the end of the first five minutes. 

O'Malley landed one punch, waited for Zahabi to get up landed the knock out blow and as the Canadian was falling to ground, O'Malley gave President Trump a salute. Pretty cool move there from the flashy bantamweight

THERE IT IS!!!!

O'Malley with some sneaky quick hands!!!! A couple of punches rattled Zahabi and he landed one final blow that ended the Canadian's night. 

O´Malley lands a series of quick punches, but Zahabi is using his legs well and landing sonme inside leg kicks. In the balance three minutes into the second round. 

The first round comes to an end with out a bang. O'Malley's corner sound comfortable with that “warm up round.” Hopefully things heat up in this second round because that was a bit boring. 

A couple leg kicks, a couple of haymakers that came up empty and this has been one of the least entertaining rounds of the night so far. 

Both fighters kind of dancing around for the first 90 seconds of the fight. 

Zahabi getting a healthy portion of boos after the Oh Canada stunt as he came to the octagon. The crowd here at the White House starting early on with the USA chants, and here we go!

Our next fight features Sean O'Malley and Aiemann Zahabi in three round bantamweight bout as these two contenders will look to take one step closer to a title bout. 

Oh Canada ringing around the White House lawn as Aiemann Zahibi as he walks out to the octagon. Another thing I probably didn't expected to hear or see on Trump's birthday on the White House lawn. 

When you can throw hands like this, you can yap it up in the post fight interview. Hokit TKO's the big man Darryl Lewis. 

This we can put on the feed. Nothing like a little trash talk from a heavyweight contender. Perreria is in the building. He heard that, and might use that as some extra motivation to beat the hell out of Ciryl Gane just so he can get a chance to shut Hokit up. 

Hokit connected on a nasty combo and curled Lewis over and he finished off the job in the second round of the heavyweight bout. He had some interesting words for Shama Perriera and former First Lady Michelle Obama that we will not be repeating on the live blog. 

IT'S ALL OVER!!!!

The big man goes down!!! Hokit connected on a BRUTAL COMBO that shook Lewis. He keeled over and eventually fell before Rokit jumped on him and pounded him into a TKO!!!

Hockit has connected on some big punches and Lewis is still standing but he is woozy. 

Hokit couldn't finish off the job even though he had Lewis in an arm bar for about a minute. 

Lewis survived but Hokit looks in complete control of this fight coming out of the break. 

Hokit locked Lewis in an arm bar with about 40 seconds to go but Lewis held out and was able to survive until the bell rang to bring an end to the first round. 

Lewis had his head split open and he is bleeding all over the mat with a minute to go in the first round. He's still struggling to get out of the grasp of Rokit on the ground and pound. 

Hokit with the first take down of the fight and he's got Lewis where he wants him. 

Rokit showing some mobility with some flying kicks that haven't quite connected yet. Impressive nonetheless for a man of his size. 

HERE WE GO!!!

Lewis has about two inches and 30 pounds on Rokit. We are about to get going here in this fourth fight of seven. 

Lewis is considered a knockout king and Hokit is not going to back away from a brawl. With the fireworks going off early here, we may have another early knockout in the cards in this up coming heavyweight bout. 

Hopefully Hockit is feeling a little better than he was feeling at the weigh in last night. He looked to be a bit drunk, or at least woozy coming to the scale. A little hair of the dog might have done the bad boy ok this morning. Now he's ready to rumble again Derrick Lewis. 

Next up we have Josh Hokit taking on Derrick Lewis in a heavyweight bout as the celebration of President Trump's birthday at the White House continues. 

What better place? What better time? Win a fight on the White House lawn, and ask your girlfriend to marry you. Talk about original. Mauricio Ruffy will have plenty to celebrate tonight after his win at UFC Freedom 250. 

In the third bout of the night, it was Mauricio Ruffy popping Michael Chandler right in the ear and that was enough to rattle Chandler. The Brazilian pounced and the ref was there to stop the fight before we even heard the first round bell. 

The 1-2 combo dropped Daukaus and Nickal was right there to jump all over his opponent and forearm him until the ref stepped in and called the fight. 

I've seen some cool walk outs with some great songs in some awesome settings but we have never seen something like this. A walk out with the White House in the background. Bo Nickal embraced his surroundings and knocked out Kyle Daukaus in the first round with a TKO. 

Diego Lopes got things started in the first bout on the card, and he needed a round and a half to wrap up the first fight of the night. The crowd might have got a little wet earlier but it's been heating up on the South Lawn of the White House since about an hour ago. 

We are well underway here from the White House

After an hour weather delay here from D.C. the action started about an hour ago, and it seems like the fighters have been making up for lost time. Three knockouts in the first three fights. The last of which was Mauricio Ruffy knocking out Michael Chandler with a TKO. 

Fight card 

Here is the card for this historic night. We have seven fights lined up for this fight night, all leading up to the main event. Ilia Touporia and Justin Gaethje will go toe to toe for the lightweight title but we have plenty in story before that. 

Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje, lightweight title bout

Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane, heavyweight interim title bout

Sean O'Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi, bantamweight

Josh Hokit vs. Derrick Lewis, heavyweight

Michael Chandler vs. Mauricio Ruffy, lightweight

Kyle Daukaus vs. Bo Nickal, middleweight

Steve Garcia vs. Diego Lopes, featherweight

Welcome to the nation's capital  

Historty will be made tonight from Capitol Hill as the UFC takes center stage for a unique event. It’s been a long wait as the anticipation has grown for what will be one of the UFC’s most memorable nights. Ilia Touporia and Justin Gaethje are the stars of the show but there will be plenty of stars, plenty of famous faces and of course the President of the United States who has had a major hand in putting this event on in celebration of this 80th birthday. Sit back and enjoy the show from the White House, who knows if we will ever get a chance to see this again. 

Freedom 250 from the White House

It's being called by some the greatest sporting event in history. While history will decide if that is indeed the case, the setting couldn’t be much more historic. For the first time ever the White House opens it’s doors and lawn to the UFC for a one of a kind event to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States. Ilia Touporia and Justin Gaethje headline what will be an action packed night and AS English will be with you all night providing live coverage, updates, highlights and analysis of tonight's fight night from the White House.