Trump offers UFC chief Dana White the press secretary job; White declines, but will meet him on Monday
Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he had offered the White House press secretary job to the UFC chief executive, and asked him to bring six fighters as assistants. A source tells CNN that White has declined the offer; but White himself says he will fly to Washington to meet the president on Monday.
Published 8 November 2026 · 07:12 GMT
The summary
Saturday 7 November 2026: Donald Trump posts on Truth Social offering UFC chief executive Dana White the job of White House press secretary, and asks him to bring six UFC fighters as assistants. Saturday 7 November 2026: White, speaking in London after a boxing event, says he will fly to Washington at once and meet Trump at the White House on Monday to discuss the offer.
The three lenses
- WestAmerican coverage has treated the offer as both a genuine staffing story and an open question about the president's intent.
- EastAsian outlets carried the story as a Washington spectacle with a political edge.
- Global SouthAl Jazeera reported White's own words from the London news conference and the history behind the offer: the early-2000s casino bills, the 2016 endorsement, the June UFC night on the South Lawn, and the fact that the White House press office already employs a former UFC spokesman in Steven Cheung.
Key facts
- Saturday 7 November 2026: Donald Trump posts on Truth Social offering UFC chief executive Dana White the job of White House press secretary, and asks him to bring six UFC fighters as assistants. Reuters
- Saturday 7 November 2026: White, speaking in London after a boxing event, says he will fly to Washington at once and meet Trump at the White House on Monday to discuss the offer. Al Jazeera
- 7–8 November 2026: CNN reports, citing a source familiar with the matter, that White has declined the offer; a White House aide says Trump was joking. CNN
- 16 October 2026: Katie Zacharia leaves the press secretary post after five days; Karoline Leavitt had stepped down at the end of August after a year and a half in the role. CNN
- June 2026: the White House hosts a night of UFC fights on the South Lawn as part of the celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of American independence. Al Jazeera
- Saturday 7 November 2026: Trump also orders the Justice Department to examine Democrats over alleged threats of impeachment, days after Democrats won control of Congress in the midterm elections. CNA
What did Trump offer Dana White on Saturday?
On Saturday 7 November, Donald Trump used his Truth Social account to offer the job of White House press secretary to Dana White, the chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and he asked White to bring six of the sport's best-known fighters with him as assistants. "I am pleased to announce that the Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior, has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States," the president wrote, adding: "Dana will be a Press Secretary like none other. Dana, please take the job!" The post named six current and former UFC title holders, Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov, from Russia's Dagestan region; the Americans Justin Gaethje and Daniel Cormier; Amanda Nunes, a Brazilian who became a United States citizen last year; and Kayla Harrison, and it asked White to bring them "even though some are not from our Country". "We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left," Trump wrote. Hours later, White was speaking to reporters in London after a boxing event, and he said he would fly to Washington at once. "I'm flying to Washington DC, right now," he said, adding that he would meet Trump at the White House on Monday to discuss the offer.
What do we know about the vacancy White would fill?
The press secretary's job has been empty since 16 October, when Katie Zacharia left the post after five days, and the vacancy has become the most visible staffing problem of Trump's second term. Zacharia had succeeded Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down at the end of August after a year and a half in the role, saying she wanted to spend more time with her young family, and CNN reports that Trump dismissed Zacharia after a single rocky briefing, making her tenure the shortest in the job's history. The search for a successor has dragged on for weeks. The White House communications director, Steven Cheung, is a former UFC spokesman who worked for White's organisation from 2013 to 2016, and on Saturday he reposted the president's message with the words: "Hell yeah! Do it, @DanaWhite! It'll just be like old times!" White and Trump go back much further than that. They first worked together in the early 2000s, when Trump's Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City hosted UFC events, and they grew closer after White publicly backed Trump's presidential campaign in 2016. In June, the White House hosted a night of UFC fights on the South Lawn as part of the celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, and Trump has attended UFC events regularly in recent years. Trump named Stephen Miller chief of staff after Susie Wiles stepped aside following the midterm rout, so the offer to White lands in the middle of a wider reshaping of the president's team.
What is still unclear about the offer?
The first open question is whether the offer is real. One White House aide told CNN that Trump was joking, and NBC News has said it is unclear whether the proposal is serious, while Trump himself is known for posting satirical material on Truth Social; and yet the post was written as a formal announcement, White is treating it seriously enough to fly to Washington, and no one at the White House has withdrawn it. The second question is whether White has already said no. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that he declined the offer, but White has not said so himself, and his public remarks point the other way: he is going to the meeting. Nor is it known whether any of the six fighters were consulted before Trump named them, whether anything has been put to White in writing, or what role, if any, he might accept on Monday.
Why does a press secretary vacancy matter this much?
The press secretary is the voice a president uses every day, and this vacancy has now lasted more than three weeks at a moment when the White House faces an incoming Democratic Congress and a run of hostile headlines. The offer to White is therefore about more than one appointment: it is a measure of how far Trump is willing to go outside the usual Washington pipeline to fill a job he is personally invested in, and how much he values loyalty and showmanship over the conventions of the briefing room. The timing sharpens the point. The offer came on the same day that Trump ordered the Justice Department to examine Democrats over what he called threats of impeachment and other punishments against people associated with his administration, days after Democrats won control of Congress in the midterm elections, with Hakeem Jeffries poised to become the first Black speaker of the House. The department, meanwhile, is losing prosecutors: the prosecutor behind Trump's “grand conspiracy” probe has resigned as the Justice Department exodus widens. A combative posture and a showman's appointment, announced together, read as a single message about how the president intends to meet the new Congress.
What does the offer say about the White House after the midterms?
Looked at coldly, the offer is the latest sign that Trump's second-term staffing runs on personal loyalty rather than on the usual résumés. The press secretary's job has always been political, but it has also been a job for communicators who know the briefing room's rules, and White's qualification, as Trump presents it, is that he is a fighter who will defend the administration against its critics. That framing fits a pattern: the Miller appointment put one of his most loyal lieutenants at the centre of the White House, and the press secretary search has now reached for a celebrity ally rather than a Washington professional. Whether the offer is a joke, a trial balloon, or a genuine appointment, it tells the same story about the president's instincts after the midterm defeat; he would rather improvise in public, with people he trusts, than recruit quietly through the usual channels. The risk is obvious: a joke that is taken seriously, or a serious offer that is received as a joke, leaves the vacancy exactly where it was.
What happens if the joke becomes the shortlist?
If White says yes on Monday, the White House briefing room changes overnight, and not only in tone. Six fighters named as assistants, two of them Russian, one Brazilian-born, several of them without any government experience, would raise immediate questions about security clearances, work authorisation, and who actually speaks for the president. If White says no, the episode still costs the administration something: it will have advertised, in public, that the most visible communications job in the country is hard to fill, and it will have done so days before a new Congress arrives with subpoena power. Either way, the next press secretary inherits a room that has watched this unfold, and the Democrats who now control the House will be watching, too.
What should we watch on Monday?
Monday's meeting is the hinge. White has said he will fly to Washington and meet Trump at the White House, and he has promised to say more afterwards: "I'm sure I'll have more to talk about after that." The first thing to watch is whether he walks out with a job, a different role, or nothing at all; and whether the White House confirms anything in writing. The second is the six fighters: whether any of them was consulted, and whether their names appear again. The third is the vacancy itself, now more than three weeks old: if White declines, the search starts again in public, with a new Congress about to sit and a briefing room still waiting for someone to stand behind its podium.
The three lenses
West Lens:
American coverage has treated the offer as both a genuine staffing story and an open question about the president's intent. CNN, which first reported that White had declined, stressed the search that preceded the offer: Leavitt's departure, Zacharia's five-day tenure, and a president who has struggled to find someone for a position he cares about personally.
East Lens:
Asian outlets carried the story as a Washington spectacle with a political edge. NHK World-Japan reported the offer in full, quoted Trump's "Dana, please take the job!", and noted both White's photograph of himself at the briefing-room podium and the view among American media that it was unclear whether the offer was serious.
South Lens:
Al Jazeera reported White's own words from the London news conference and the history behind the offer: the early-2000s casino bills, the 2016 endorsement, the June UFC night on the South Lawn, and the fact that the White House press office already employs a former UFC spokesman in Steven Cheung. Its account also caught a detail others missed, that Trump wrote "Kayla Harris" where the fighter's name is Kayla Harrison, a small slip that underlines how hastily the post was composed.
The consensus
- What we agree on
- What we agree on: on Saturday 7 November 2026, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social offering UFC chief executive Dana White the job of White House press secretary, asked him to bring six UFC fighters as assistants, and White said in London that he would fly to Washington and meet Trump on Monday; the post is public and the meeting plan is confirmed by White's own words.
- What we don't agree on
- What we don't agree on: whether the offer is serious or a joke, one White House aide said Trump was joking, while the post itself reads as a formal announcement; whether White has actually declined, CNN's source says he has, but White has not said so publicly and is still going to the meeting; and whether a fighter-led briefing room would be a stunt or a deliberate break with the job's conventions.
- What we know
- What we know: the press secretary post has been vacant since Katie Zacharia left on 16 October after five days, following Karoline Leavitt's departure at the end of August; White and Trump have worked together since the early 2000s; the White House communications director, Steven Cheung, worked for the UFC from 2013 to 2016; and the six fighters Trump named are Makhachev, Nurmagomedov, Gaethje, Cormier, Nunes and Harrison.
- What we don't know yet
- What we don't know yet: whether Trump will repeat the offer face to face on Monday; whether White will accept any role at all; whether the six fighters were consulted before being named; what, if anything, the White House has formally offered in writing; and whether the post will be filled before the new Congress sits.
- What we expect
- What we expect: White to meet Trump on Monday and to speak afterwards; the White House to clarify whether the offer stands; the search for a press secretary to continue in public view; and the episode to be read, whatever Monday brings, as a measure of how Trump staffs his White House after the midterm elections.
Questions, answered
Has Dana White accepted the job?
No; and, according to CNN, he has already turned it down. A source familiar with the matter told the network that White declined the offer, although White himself has not confirmed that publicly. What he has said is that he will fly to Washington and meet Trump at the White House on Monday, so the final word will come after that meeting, not before it.
Who are the six fighters Trump named as assistants?
Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov, both from Russia's Dagestan region; the Americans Justin Gaethje and Daniel Cormier; Amanda Nunes, a Brazilian who became a United States citizen last year; and Kayla Harrison. Trump asked White to bring them ‘even though some are not from our Country’, and he posted their photographs alongside his offer on Truth Social.
Why has the White House been without a press secretary?
Karoline Leavitt stepped down at the end of August after a year and a half in the role, saying she wanted to spend more time with her young family. Her successor, Katie Zacharia, lasted just five days before leaving on 16 October, CNN reports that Trump dismissed her after one rocky briefing, and the search for a replacement has dragged on ever since.
Was Trump joking?
That is the open question. One White House aide told CNN that Trump was joking, and NBC News has said it is unclear whether the proposal is serious; Trump has a record of satirical posts on Truth Social. But the post was written as a formal announcement, White is flying to Washington to discuss it, and nobody at the White House has withdrawn it, so Monday's meeting should settle the matter.
Sources
- Reuters (7 Nov 2026); the original wire account of the offer, the six fighters named as assistants, and the vacancy left by Zacharia
- Al Jazeera (8 Nov 2026); White's remarks in London, the Monday meeting, the Trump–White history, and the Cheung repost
- CNN (7 Nov 2026); the source account that White declined, the aide's remark that Trump was joking, and the Leavitt–Zacharia history
- CNA (8 Nov 2026); the offer alongside the Justice Department order and the incoming Democratic Congress