What was otherwise a successful event was marred by controversy at the UFC 250 Freedom event last weekend. Now, UFC President and CEO Dana White is speaking out on what he called a “disgusting” incident.
The event, which was hosted by United States President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House, included several high-profile UFC fights watched by thousands in attendance and millions more on Paramount+. Unfortunately, following one of those fights, UFC star Josh Hokit made some comments about former First Lady Michelle Obama that White had previously called “nasty and false.”
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White had not spoken about the matter since then, but he has now expanded, offering an even harsher rebuke of the disrespectful comments from Hokit.
‘Michelle Obama is a man’
After his victory over Derrick Lewis at UFC Freedom 250 on Sunday evening, UFC star Josh Hokit used his post-match interview with White to peddle a right-wing conspiracy theory that former First Lady Michelle Obama is secretly a transgender woman.
“Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America?” he yelled into the microphone, eliciting some cheers from the audience.
Hokit was making reference to a longstanding conspiracy theory that dates back to at least 2008, but which gained steam in 2014 when the late comedian Joan Rivers was filmed on the streets of New York City claiming that Michelle was transgender and Barack Obama was gay.
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Since then, the baseless theory has been pushed by fringe media members like Alex Jones and it even entered the sports media space when Jason Whitlock discussed it back in 2023.
Different aspects of the conspiracy theory have been continually debunked on Snopes, PolitiFact, USA Today, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reuters, but it still persists. And thanks to the UFC and Hokit, it was amplified at a massive sporting event watched by millions of people.
Dana White Addresses the Issue
Dana White addressed the issue during an interview immediately following the event, where he called the comments “nasty and false.” But during a press conference this week, White offered more of an in-depth reaction.
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“That was disgusting,” White said of Hokit’s words during a press conference.
“Disgusting,” he reiterated.
White was asked whether or not he regretted putting Hokit on the card, given his history of controversial comments.
“No. I mean, there’s always going to be people that say things that most of us don’t agree with,” White said, while reiterating that the time and the place of the comments made it so much worse.
White explained his perspective a bit more in depth as he opened up a little bit about his opinions and relationship with Barack Obama. White revealed that he even voted for Obama back in 2008.
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“I’ve said many times, I voted for Obama the first time,” White said. “Didn’t vote for him the second time. Then at the inauguration, he was sitting in front of me. And then I saw all this stuff on the internet, with people like ‘Oh, Dana’s mad-dogging Dana.’ Obama’s the only one that turned around to me – couldn’t have been a nicer guy – and said, ‘Congratulations on all your success and everything you’ve done.’ I said, ‘Thank you, Mr. President.'”
White explained that he thinks all presidents should be respected, present and past.
“I don’t believe in this [stuff]. All the people that hate Trump – ‘He’s not my president.’ All the people that hated on Biden – ‘he’s not my president.’ I’ve got some bad [freaking] news for you. If you’re an American, that’s your president. And I respect all presidents, present and past,” White said.
That said, he acknowledges that not everyone is going to hold that same perspective, including some of the fighters that are given a platform via UFC.
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“Not everybody does,” White said. “I’ve gotta listen to stupid [stuff] like that sometimes because I also believe in free speech.”
The post ‘I voted for Obama’: Dana White breaks his silence on ‘disgusting’ incident at Donald Trump’s UFC event appeared first on The Comeback: Today’s Top Sports Stories & Reactions.
