President Donald Trump said on Saturday, November 7, 2026, that he had offered the job of White House press secretary to Dana White, the chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The offer came in a post on Trump's Truth Social account, written from his golf club in Florida.
White was in London for a UFC event. Asked about it at the post-fight news conference, he said he was flying to Washington straight away, confirmed he would meet the president on Monday, and did not say whether he had accepted. On Instagram he shared Trump's post over an image of himself standing at the lectern in the White House briefing room, with the line "On to the next chapter."
A post, and fighters as "assistants"
In the post Trump described White as "the Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior" and said he "has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States." He also asked White to bring a group of UFC fighters along as assistants, among them Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier and Amanda Nunes, writing that "we need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left." He closed with a direct appeal: "Dana, please take the job!"
The White House did not answer questions about the post. Whether the offer is to be taken at face value is not settled: CNN, citing a source, reported that White was not taking the job, and more than one American outlet raised the possibility that the post was partly in jest. White himself has said only that there will be more to discuss after Monday.
Six months with nobody at the podium
The press secretary's job has been vacant since the end of August, when Karoline Leavitt stepped aside, saying she wanted more time with her young children. Trump then named Katie Zacharia, a conservative commentator, who made a single appearance before reporters and was removed on October 16, five days into the job. Since then the administration has had no chief spokesperson.
The vacancy sits inside a wider reshuffle. On Friday, Trump announced that Stephen Miller would take over as chief of staff from Susie Wiles — an announcement that came three days after Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections, and that leaves the two most visible jobs in the West Wing, the staff and the podium, changing hands in the same week.
A 25-year friendship
White has run the UFC since 2001 and has built the promotion into a business CBS News values at more than $15 billion. His relationship with Trump goes back about 25 years, to the days when Trump hosted early UFC cards at his Atlantic City properties, and White has spoken at the Republican national conventions of 2016, 2020 and 2024.
Trump has attended several UFC events since returning to office in January 2025, and the promotion staged a card on the White House South Lawn during the country's 250th-anniversary celebrations this year, with a temporary Octagon built on the lawn.
If White does take the job, he would arrive at a briefing room that has had no permanent occupant for more than two months, and would face a Congress controlled by the opposition from January.
Reporting from CBS News, ESPN, NPR, NBC News and CNBC.
