The UFC is in the nation's capital on Sunday, June 14, when UFC Freedom 250 is set to take over the White House grounds. The UFC White House card features two title fights, with the main event a lightweight bout between undefeated champ Ilia Topuria and interim champion Justin Gaethje. Topuria is the favorite at -500, while Gaethje is a sizable +380 underdog. There are several notable UFC Freedom 250 underdogs for the card in Washington D.C. We'll break down the best UFC White House underdog picks you can make for this event, which is streaming exclusively on Paramount+ and begins at 8 p.m. ET. Bet on UFC Freedom 250 with the DraftKings promo code and get $200 in bonus bets after placing a first bet of $5 or more:
UFC Freedom 250 underdog picks (odds via DraftKings)
- Aiemann Zahabi (+340) over Sean O'Malley (-440)
- Derrick Lewis (+320) over Josh Hokit (-410)
- Kyle Daukaus (+260) over Bo Nickal (-325)
It's tempting to put Gaethje here, especially considering he's coming off two very impressive wins, but Topuria is undefeated and should be very motivated after Gaethje got personal leading up to this main event. We'll instead target three other fights.
O'Malley is a heavy favorite over Zahabi in a bantamweight tilt, though he's not coming into this bout in top form. O'Malley dropped two of his last three fights -- both to Merab Dvalishvili -- while Zahabi is riding a seven-fight win streak. Quality of opponents is certainly a factor here as O'Malley is a former bantamweight champ who has fought many of the top fighters in the sport, while Zahabi has bounced between weight classes and has never held UFC gold. Still, Zahabi is a good fighter and there's a lot of value here. Zahabi has been able to get five of his last seven fights to go the distance, so perhaps that's a good strategy here against O'Malley, who has gotten 12 of his 19 wins by KO. Get $350 in bonus bets when placing UFC bets with the latest FanDuel promo code:
Speaking of KOs, the heavyweight fight between Lewis and Hokit is where we're most likely to see one. Lewis is 29-13-1 in his career, with 24 of those wins coming by knockout. His 16 KO wins are the most in UFC history, and he also has the most finishes by a heavyweight in the promotion's history. Hokit is an up-and-comer and is 9-0 with five KO wins. We know Lewis will come out swinging here, and it just takes one good connection for the veteran fighter to put down an opponent. At +330, a Lewis win is a worthy dart throw and Lewis by KO has even more value at +400.
We'll wrap this one up with targeting Daukaus over Nickal in a middleweight tilt. Nickal is 8-1 and is a heavy favorite over the veteran Daukaus (17-4-1). This is far and away the biggest fight of Nickal's career given the magnitude of the event, while Daukaus has won gold in other promotions and is 2-0 since returning to UFC last August, including Performance of the Night honors in that return bout. This is set up to be a coming out party for Nickal, but Daukaus is a worthy contender to play spoiler. Bet UFC White House at BetMGM Sportsbook and get up to $1,500 in bonus bets:
