image copyrightEPA
US President Donald Trump published a message on his social network Truth Social in which he invited UFC head Dana White to become White House press secretary.
“Dana can work as a press secretary as well as anyone,” he wrote. “Dana, please take this job!”
It is unclear from Trump's post whether the president is making such a proposal seriously or joking.
The BBC has contacted the White House and TKO Holdings, which owns the UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship, for comment.
The post of White House press secretary has been vacant since mid-October, following the controversial resignation of Kathy Zakaria, who served in this position for about a week.
Trump wrote his post after the Republican Party lost control of both houses of the US Congress in the midterm elections.
In offering the job to White, he called him a "fierce Fighter and Warrior" and asked if he could recruit some of the UFC's biggest names, "even though some of them aren't from this country."
Help from Russians
Among such fighters, he named two Russians - Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
End of Most Popular
“We need these people to protect us from the crazy leftists,” Trump wrote, posting photos of UFC fighters.
Photo credit: AFP via Getty Images
This extension will help if you have difficulties accessing the BBC Russian Service website.
Download extension
End of story Chrome browser extension - link
After Trump made his post, White posted a photo of himself on Instagram behind the White House briefing room podium.
“Proceeding to the next stage,” White’s post said, although it is also unclear whether the UFC head is writing this seriously or is simply playing along with Trump.
On several occasions in the past, White has reacted quite aggressively to inconvenient questions from journalists who cover the UFC.
In 2020, he posted a video targeting reporters who questioned his decision to hold fights during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2009, he published an angry video message in response to a publication about changing the system of accreditation of journalists for UFC fights. In this video he used obscene and homophobic language.
White has long been a Trump supporter and friend.
White bought the UFC for $2 million in 2001, when the championship was experiencing serious financial difficulties.
Five years earlier, Republican Senator John McCain had called mixed martial arts "human cockfighting." After this, the sport was banned in 36 US states.
“They didn’t want to host the UFC,” White said in a 2025 interview with BBC affiliate CBS. - They didn’t believe in him. Nobody liked him, and everyone was afraid that some different spectators would come to such events.”
White said Trump saved the UFC when he agreed to stage the fights at his Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, even though major US venues were unwilling to host them at the time.
This summer, the UFC held an exhibition fight in a cage set up on the White House lawn.
White has spoken in support of Trump at the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Republican National Conventions.
Find out more
Video playlist
End Video playlist
