Topline
Fighter Jos Hokit made a crude remark about former First Lady Michelle Obama while being interviewed after winning his bout during the controversial UFC Freedom 250 event held on the White House lawn on Sunday night, which saw several high-profile attendees, including celebrities, athletes, billionaires and political leaders.
Key Facts
The show began after a short weather delay and saw seven bouts on the card and ended with American fighter Justin Gaethje pulling off an upset win in the main event against Georgian Ilia Topuria to claim the Lightweight Championship.
One of the most controversial events took place after a mid-card fight, when Jos Hokit was interviewed in the octagon by UFC commentator and podcaster Joe Rogan following his win over Derrick Lewis.
Hokit ended the interview by blurting out a right-wing conspiracy theory, “Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America?”
Rogan appeared to be smiling but did not address the comments and ended the interview, saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, Josh Hokit.”
Before the fight, Hokit presented the president—who was seated ringside—with what appeared to be a gold chain with an encased trading card.
What Do We Know About The Daniel Cormier Controversy?
An alleged X post made by UFC commentator and former Light Heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier hours before the event triggered another controversy before the fight. The now-deleted post included screenshots that claimed to show text messages from the president’s son, Eric Trump, asking Cormier if any of the fights at the UFC White House event were rigged. The post was captioned: “The UFC is a sport that I am deeply passionate about. I will not tolerate this type of insider behavior. Shame on anyone trying to ruin this beautiful event.” However, the alleged text messages were quickly denied by Eric Trump and were swiftly deleted from Cormier’s timeline. Responding to a screengrab of the alleged post, the president’s son wrote: “This is completely fake! I have never reached out to Daniel. In fact, this is scary.” He followed this up by tweeting: “We are aware of the fake, AI generated screenshots being circulated online. I have never spoken to Daniel. He has since deleted his post, which confirms it was clearly fabricated.” But the X post carried a community report that read “Multiple journalists and eyewitnesses confirm Daniel Cormier posted the screenshots himself before deleting them.” Cormier also issued an X post saying: “Are people really this dumb?” It is unclear if the MMA star and commentator actually made the alleged post or if his account was hacked.