Dana White rips Josh Hokit for Michelle Obama comments at White House: ‘Inappropriate’

All eyes were on UFC in June for the historic UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House. It was a perfect event, according to UFC president and CEO Dana White, except for one loud, ugly stain involving UFC heavyweight Josh Hokit.

Hokit was handed a microphone after his second-round TKO win over Derrick Lewis. Hokit, wearing an American flag bandana, yelled into the mic, “Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America?”

White recently expressed disgust over how the former First Lady was treated, particularly as a wife and a mother.

“It’s f—ing gross, right?” White told Ryan Clark’s “The Pivot” podcast. “It’s inappropriate, the timing of it and everything.”

Hokit wasn’t originally booked for UFC Freedom 250. His fight with Lewis was a late addition after President Trump specifically requested Lewis for the card. White insisted that he, the UFC and its fighters don’t share Hokit’s views, and expressed frustration for how Hokit spoiled an otherwise spectacular night for the company.

“It’s not the opinion of the UFC. It’s not my opinion or anybody else who fought on that card. It was a really unfortunate thing to happen that night. When you hit this f—ing grand slam home run and have a perfect event in every way that it could be…” White said before trailing off. “You got a f—ing moronic…”

You can read White’s full statement below.

Well, if you look leading into that show, everybody was talking about. You know, got the people that are always gonna say, ‘Oh, this is political. This is a MAGA party. The President is throwing his own birthday party’ and all this bullshit. It’s the 250th birthday of America. To have the opportunity to be able to celebrate that at the White House the way we did. And I said leading up to that event, ‘If you’re far left. If you’re far right. If you’re right down the middle. This show is for everybody that is an American.’ We’re going to talk about the history of America, and it’s at the White House. All this stuff. Obviously, Barack and Michelle Obama are public figures. And when you’re a public figure, you guys know, I’m sure you guys deal with your own level of bullshit and people talking. It’s part of the gig. But what I don’t like is, first of all, former First Lady of the United States. No. 2, a wife, a mother. It’s f—ing gross. Right? It’s inappropriate, the timing of it and everything. I think that people understand. There are people you can’t talk to and can’t change their mind, and you can’t, whatever. Obviously, it’s not the opinion of the UFC. It’s not my opinion or anybody else who fought on that card. It was a really unfortunate thing to happen that night. When you hit this f—ing grand slam home run and have a perfect event in every way that it could be… you got a f—ing moronic, you know, it just. But, you know, other than that, it was a great f—ing night. What are you gonna do?

The card, billed as a celebration of the United States of America’s 250th birthday, took place on the same day as President Trump’s 80th birthday.

UFC Freedom 250 delivered record-breaking viewership for Paramount+ across the United States and Latin America, more than doubling the previous record set by UFC 324.