President Donald Trump has offered the job of White House press secretary to Dana White, the chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, in a move that was unconventional even by the standards of an administration that has already seen two people hold the post in the space of a few months.
Trump made the offer on Saturday, November 7, in a post on his Truth Social platform, writing that he was "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". He ended the message with a direct appeal: "Dana, please take the job!"
The offer did not stop at White himself. Trump said he had asked White to bring a team of assistants with him, "even though some are not from our Country", and named six current and former UFC title holders: 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 Harris", an apparent reference to the fighter Kayla Harrison. "We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left," Trump wrote.
White, who was in London on Saturday after a boxing event, responded within hours. Speaking at a news conference, he said he was flying to Washington immediately and would meet Trump at the White House on Monday to discuss the offer. "I'm sure I'll have more to talk about after that," he told reporters, declining to go into detail about the conversation. He also posted a photograph of himself standing behind the lectern in the White House briefing room, captioned "On to the next chapter", and reposted Trump's message on his Instagram Stories.
The White House press secretary's job has been vacant since Katie Zacharia left the role last month after less than a week in it — five days, the shortest tenure in the post's history. Zacharia had succeeded Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down at the end of August. Trump has therefore been without a chief spokesperson for weeks, and the search for a replacement has become one of the more closely watched staffing questions of his second term.
Whether the offer to White is meant seriously remains genuinely unclear, and that uncertainty is part of the story. Trump is well known for posting satirical material on Truth Social, and USA Today noted that it remains unclear whether White is seriously being considered for the open post. CNN reported that White had turned the job down, and a White House source told the network that Trump had been joking about the offer — a claim that sits awkwardly beside White's own statement that he is flying to Washington to discuss it in person on Monday.
What is not in doubt is the closeness of the two men. White is a long-standing Trump ally, supporter and donor who has appeared alongside the president at campaign events and UFC cards, and Trump has repeatedly sought to associate himself with the mixed martial arts organisation and its audience. The offer also fits a pattern: Trump has filled senior roles with figures from outside conventional politics, prizing loyalty and public profile over the usual Washington credentials.
The announcement came at the end of a turbulent week for the White House. On Friday, Trump replaced his longtime chief of staff, Susie Wiles — widely seen as a tempering influence on the president — with aide Stephen Miller, the architect of his immigration policies. The reshuffle followed the Democrats' sweep of the midterm elections, which handed them control of Congress and left Trump facing an incoming Democratic majority. The press secretary vacancy, the chief of staff change and the election result together amount to the most significant reordering of the administration since the midterms.
Reaction to the offer was swift and sharply divided. Supporters of the president treated it as a characteristically bold choice, while critics — including an opinion column in the Arizona Republic — called it a joke and questioned whether a fight promoter belonged behind the briefing-room lectern. The White House did not respond to a request for comment from USA Today, and no formal announcement of an appointment has been made.
The most likely next step is the meeting itself. White said he would sit down with Trump on Monday, and that conversation should settle whether the offer was a genuine attempt to install him as press secretary, a piece of theatre, or something in between. If White were to accept, he would become one of the most unusual press secretaries in American history — a sports executive with no experience of government communications, fronting the White House briefing room at a moment when the administration faces a hostile Congress. If he declines, the search for a spokesperson will continue, with the vacancy now stretching into its second month.
Either way, the episode has already underlined how far the White House's staffing has drifted from convention. A president who has just lost both houses of Congress and replaced his chief of staff is now publicly recruiting his press secretary from the world of cage fighting — and the man he asked has not said no.
The facts in this report were checked at 16:55 PKT on 08 November 2026 against reports from Al Jazeera, the Associated Press and Reuters, and USA Today.
