Donald Trump is walking back his pitch to put Dana White behind the White House briefing room podium. The president says his offer to make the UFC chief executive his press secretary was a joke, although he insists White enjoyed the suggestion.
Speaking to reporters in Florida on Sunday, November 8, Trump addressed the Truth Social post that had turned a possible career change for White into a weekend talking point. “I will tell you, I was only kidding. But Dana loves the idea. And there’s only one Dana. He’s great,” Trump said.
Donald Trump Says He Was “Only Kidding” About Dana White Press Secretary Job
The chatter started Saturday, November 7, when Trump announced that White “has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States.” He described the UFC executive as “a violent Fighter and Warrior,” promised a press secretary “like none other” and added: “Dana, please take the job!”
Trump even picked out six fighters to join White as assistants: Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes and Kayla Harrison. His explanation for the proposed team was political rather than sporting: “We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left.”
Trump’s Dana White joke came days after a setback at the ballot box. Democrats won control of both the House and Senate in the November 3 midterm elections, picking up Senate seats in Republican strongholds including Texas, Kansas and South Carolina. The incoming majorities will take over in January, putting Trump’s opponents in charge of both chambers for the final two years of his presidency.
By Sunday, Trump was pointing to that lineup as the giveaway that nobody should have taken the offer literally. “Of course, I was kidding,” he said. “And you can see that because I put all of the great fighters as his assistants.” He described the post as “just a little fun.” He also singled out two of the names while explaining himself. “I posted the greatest wrestlers and UFC fighters in the world, right?” Trump said. “Like Khabib, like Justin Gaethje, and you see a lot of rough faces there.”
White had played along before Trump’s clarification. Shortly after Saturday’s post, he shared an Instagram Story showing himself behind a White House podium, captioned: “On to the next chapter.” At a news conference following a Zuffa Boxing event in London, he confirmed a Monday meeting with Trump but declined to detail their conversations.
“We have a meeting Monday, so I’m sure I’ll have more to talk about after that,” White said. He also noted that he already had a “lot of jobs.” Trump subsequently confirmed the November 9 visit was still happening, but said it was “for other reasons.”
White’s exchanges with reporters have hardly been models of restraint. In August 2026, he dismissed a question about matching two newly signed fighters by saying, “There’s always gotta be one horrible question. Congratulations sir, it was you tonight.” Former UFC fighter Rhys McKee subsequently criticised his treatment of the journalist.
In August 2024, a joking question about his support for Jon Jones prompted him to ask, “Are you guys that f*cking stupid?” He then spent more than 12 minutes debating journalists Kevin Iole and John Morgan over Jones’ pound-for-pound ranking and inactivity.
At a Zuffa Boxing event in London in September, The Sun’s Jack Figg asked whether he would step aside from Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua if his involvement put the fight at risk. “That’s not up to me. I’m involved in the fing fight,” White replied. When Figg pressed him on whether Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh had the final say, White accused him of asking “leading questions” before snapping: “What, did you just fing walk in from across the street with your cellphone and you don’t know anything about the sport?” He eventually asked whether there were any questions “relevant to this evening or anything else.”
The press secretary position remains vacant following Katie Zacharia’s departure in October after roughly five days. White, meanwhile, has supported Trump’s presidential campaigns, speaking at the Republican National Conventions in 2016, 2020 and 2024. For now, their next scheduled meeting is a visit, rather than an announced move into the administration.
