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UFC CEO Dana White joined President Donald Trump at a White House press briefing Monday, where Trump clarified that his recent suggestion to appoint the fight official as press secretary was just a joke.
Trump made a surprise appearance at the briefing to address reports that he contacted White for the role following a tough news cycle.
“We had a really bad day with the press and I said, ‘I don’t know why I thought of his name.’ He has been my friend for a long time. I said, ‘You know, I think I’m going to get Dana White to be my new press secretary,'” Trump told reporters. “I told a bunch of reporters and that was it. I was joking, and then they wrote the story like I wasn’t joking.”
Trump says he was joking about appointing Dana White as press secretary
President Donald Trump greets Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), during a press briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, November 9, 2026. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
White then took to the podium to address reporters and put to rest any rumors of entering public service.
“I have no political aspirations,” White said. “I was at a fight for Zuffa Boxing in London when he called me and told me he did this, and the last 24 hours of my life have been crazy.”
When asked by a reporter to break down a hypothetical UFC cage match between Trump and former President Joe Biden, White praised Trump’s toughness while dismissing the match.
President Donald Trump and UFC Chairman and CEO Dana White arrive for UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on June 14, 2026. (Alex Brandon/AP)
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“He’s the toughest, most resilient human being I’ve ever met in my entire life,” White said of Trump. “Many times over the last eight or 10 years I’ve said to him, ‘Why? Why do you keep doing this?’ But as tough and resilient as I thought he was, after he was shot he proved he was a unique human being.”
Regarding the hypothetical fight, White added: “It would be very bad. Yes, I think it would be very bad…I can’t believe you actually have questions for me.”
White added that he never explicitly said “no” to Trump regarding the position.
Before stepping down, the UFC chief was also asked what advice he would give to Trump regarding a possible posthumous pardon for Pete Rose, the legendary baseball player who died in 2024.
President Donald Trump talks with Dana White (left) during UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden. (Brad Penner-Imagn Images)
Rose was banned from eligibility for the MLB Hall of Fame due to betting on baseball games, including those involving his own team, the Cincinnati Reds. In 2025, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred removed Rose and 16 other deceased individuals from the permanently ineligible list.
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Trump reiterated during the briefing that he favored pardoning the stricken king.
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