UFC President Dana White played along with President Donald Trump’s press secretary joke Monday before making clear he didn’t want the job.
White joined Trump at a White House press briefing, even taking a few questions.
“I’ve always wanted to do this: Who has the first question?” he asked, prompting laughs from around the room. “I have zero political aspirations. I was at a fight … when he called me and told me that he had done this, and the last 24 hours of my life has been insane. But … yeah, good to see you!”
The first question, as it happened, was right up White’s alley: the reporter asked whether Trump or former President Joe Biden would win in a cage match, all other things being equal.
“The toughest, most resilient human being that I’ve ever met in my entire life,” White said, gesturing toward Trump as he spoke.
“Many times during the last eight, ten years — whatever it’s been — I’ve told him, ‘Why do you keep doing this? Why are you doing this?’ When he was going through everything that he went through, and as tough and as resilient as I thought, after he got shot, I, ah … yeah.”
“He is a on-of-one unique human being and —” he trailed off.
Then came the follow-up question: “Would it be a knockout victory for the president?”
“It would be — it would be very bad, yeah,” White said. “Yeah, I think it would be very bad.”
As reporters continued to wave their hands and call out his name, White seemed both baffled and amused: “I can’t believe you actually have questions for me.”
Another reporter asked about a possible pardon for the late Pete Rose — which both White and Trump seemed to agree was a good idea.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins pressed White on a more pressing issue, asking whether he’d ever officially told President Trump “no” to the job offer.
“No, I don’t tell the president ‘no’ to anything,” White said. “I didn’t say ‘no.’ I — literally every media outlet was calling me and I didn’t want to be disrespectful and say anything until he said something first.”
Trump then described how the situation had played out, saying that he’d been having a “bad press day” and thought of White’s name — and so as a joke, he’d said to the press that he intended to have White come and be his new press secretary. Of course, he said, the press ran with the story as if it wasn’t a joke — so he’d invited White to come to Washington so they could “have a little fun with it.”
Trump later asked White directly whether he’d like the job — “or do you just want to stay with this ridiculous UFC?”
He immediately got a firm response: “I do not want to be in politics. No.”
“I am devastated to hear this,” Trump laughed. “Goodbye everybody!”
🚨 LMAO! President Trump just had this gem moment then walked out of the room
“Dana — would you like to be PRESS SECRETARY of the United States of America? Or do you just want to stay with this ridiculous UFC?”
DANA WHITE: “I do not want to be in politics. No.”
TRUMP: “I am devastated to hear this. Goodbye everybody!”
Definitely one of the most memorable pressers of this administration 🤣
Trump should rotate in @NICKIMINAJ next!
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 9, 2026
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