As Dana White and Hunter Campbell push to bring the UFC to the White House lawn, a major hurdle has emerged. The issue is not political, but the company is facing a deficit of American stars. Since Dana White took control of the UFC decades ago, the promotion has overcome debts, political hurdles, and strict regulations. What was once called “human cockfighting” by U.S. Senator John McCain and former New York Mayor Mario Cuomo, who supported the ban, has now changed. However, that does not mean UFC no longer faces “obstacles.”

Despite becoming a billion-dollar company, Dana White, Campbell & UFC now face a new challenge: a shortage of top American fighters to draw fan interest. Live gate collections aren’t hitting the numbers of the past. For example, 2025’s top gate couldn’t compete with 2024’s UFC 309 or UFC 306, ‘The Sphere.’ Right now, Russian, Brazilian, and other international fighters are dominating the spotlight. However, UFC veteran Daniel Cormier is already working to fix that.

Daniel Cormier points to UFC’s hurdles amid White House event plans

“The bigger problem is the Americans, because not only do we not have an American in the top 10 at heavyweight, we don’t have an American in the top 10 pound-for-pound in any weight. Justin Gaethje now is the interim champion. It’s the only belt we have on American males,” Daniel Cormier told Sports Illustrated.

Right now, the UFC is struggling to build top American fighters who can consistently grab attention and drive big live gates. Currently, the main American stars are Sean O’Malley, Sean Strickland, Justin Gaethje, and Max Holloway. There are only a few Americans that the promotion can truly rely on. UFC’s own policies are partly responsible, as highlighted by Sean Strickland.

“So, like, the reason why you’re seeing everybody in the roster is Ahmed and, you know, Jose and whatever Brazilian name, you know? And it’s because the UFC isn’t paying you guys money. So, I think what you’re gonna have is you’re gonna have an entire roster filled with just foreigners.”

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However, things got worse last summer when Jon Jones walked away from Tom Aspinall, leaving the title vacant. This automatically made Tom Aspinall the undisputed heavyweight champion, ending America’s dominance in the UFC divisions. Although Kayla Harrison currently holds the women’s bantamweight belt, women’s divisions are generally less likely to draw big crowds compared to the men’s divisions.

However, Daniel Cormier hinted that American gyms and veterans are now working to bring back America’s prominence. “We’re going to fix that. We’ll start training some wrestlers. So, oh, let’s talk about wrestlin’,” Cormier added.

During the shakeup, just last December, American-born Joshua Van also became the flyweight champion after beating Alexandre Pantoja. However, Van represents his native Myanmar flag in the UFC. Looking at ‘DC’s words, it seems like the sun will again shine on American fighters, as Cormier is currently building a new force of wrestlers from high school communities, shaping new talent.

Even though they missed the Christmas week holiday, they grind day and night, following the Russian lifestyle. Despite the UFC lacking Americans in divisional championships and top pound-for-pound rankings, the promotion is already pushing American fighters unethically, a move recently called out by Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Khabib Nurmagomedov slams UFC for cutting Russian fighter

Dana White & Co. no longer strictly follow the rulebook; it’s now all about entertainment and delivering the fights fans want to see. Russian dominance in recent years, combined with their wrestling-heavy style being criticized on social media, especially Reddit, made the UFC feel less exciting to fans. Because of this, the promotion is avoiding the same mistakes under the Paramount era.

That’s why the UFC kept Arman Tsarukyan away from the title shot at UFC 324 to promote Paddy Pimblett vs. Justin Gaethje, which Tsarukyan also understood. However, the UFC has also started phasing out Russian fighters like Rinat Fakhretdinov, which Khabib Nurmagomedov could not see as fair.

“I feel very bad for US promotions – very, very bad,” he began. “Because there are so many hungry fighters coming, and they don’t like to talk, they don’t like trash talk. They just come, smash people, and take money. And US promotions, they don’t like this. They like trash talking, they like entertainment.”

What’s your take on Dana White & Co.’s new approach? Are their latest moves unfair to fighters, or a smart strategy to keep American fans engaged? Share your thoughts below.