UFC CEO Dana White is not defending fighter Josh Hokit's comments calling former first lady Michelle Obama a man.
“I understand that the Obamas are public figures but I’m completely against saying nasty and false things about people’s families,” White told Time magazine in a text message. “Everyone knows my position on free speech but I hate that kind of nonsense.”
After Hokit won his round during Sunday night’s UFC Freedom 250 event, which took place on the White House South Lawn, he gave an interview from the ring, where he shouted out his “lord and savior Jesus Christ,” praised President Donald Trump for hosting the event, and then declared, “Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America?”
Trump has yet to publicly say anything about the moment, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Steven Cheung, a White House spokesperson, dodged a question from CNN about the controversial moment, saying, Hokit “had a great win last night. He showed toughness and the ability to pressure his opponent both on his feet and on the ground.”
Dan Bongino, who served as the deputy director of the FBI from March 2025 to January 2026, told TMZ that Hokit’s comment was “hilarious.”
“It was probably the most unexpected and unintentionally hilarious moment of the night,” he said.
The Obamas have long been the subject of racist and sexist attacks. In February, Trump shared a racist video that depicted former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes, and eventually deleted it.
Barack Obama said in an interview that “it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling.”
Since her husband’s tenure as president, Michelle Obama has stepped back from public view, attending a few high-profile events alongside other living former first ladies.
She explained last year that she has been trying to “intentionally practice making the choice that was right” for her.
“[P]eople were ― they couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself, that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing,” Michelle Obama said in 2025.
“This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right? But that’s what society does to us. We start actually finally going, ‘What am I doing? Who am I doing this for?’” she continued. “And if it doesn’t fit into the sort of stereotype of what people think we should do, then it gets labeled as something negative and horrible.”
