Country music star lands White House gig for UFC Freedom 250. Here’s what to know

UFC President Dana White (left) and President Donald Trump sit cageside for the action at UFC 316 at Prudential Center, Saturday, June 7, 2025, in Newark, N.J. Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media

The UFC Freedom 250 card is now less than two months away, and fans of mixed martial arts are getting hyped up for the unique event that is scheduled to take place at the White House.

That will be a first, and one of country music’s biggest stars will have a key role to play at the event slated for June 14.

“Zac Brown is going to be playing that night, and for the first time in a long time, he will be doing the national anthem,” UFC president Dana White said in a recent interview.

“We don’t do the national anthem,” White added. “One of the things that drives me crazy with boxing is they gotta sing two national anthems and all this stuff before the fight starts. We are an international business. We have people from everywhere, so we are going to end up singing two national anthems and not even from this country. The whole world is watching us. We are in over a billion homes worldwide, so I don’t do it. This will be the first time in a long time since like double-digits, UFC double-digits, that we have done the national anthem and Zac Brown will be singing it.”

Brown, one of the biggest stars in country music, made headlines late last year during his “Love & Fear” residency at the Las Vegas Sphere when some fans accused him of using satanic imagery in the show.

TikTok videos shared from the concert show Brown playing, wearing a crown that looked very similar to horns, and surrounded by skeletal, devil-like images.

Caroline Jones, a guitarist for the band, offered some insight into the situation in a recent interview with Taste of Country.

“It’s really easy for people to take things out of context and to misunderstand now … the show, if you actually saw it, is about redemption,” she said. “It starts in this dark and hellish place.

“It’s a story of Zac’s redemption,” Jones added. “From a childhood of abuse to the beautiful, peaceful place that he is in now. So, the whole show goes from dark to light.”

Jones told Taste of Country that people who believed the show was satanic were likely forming that opinion from a still photo. But she said that if they watched the entire show, they would know that’s not the case.

“Art is meant to tell these stories,” she told Taste of Country. “And country music is no stranger to dark topics. But think because it was the opening of the show, I think it was very stark for people who weren’t expecting it, like, ‘Whoa!’”