Trump Offers Dana White the Press Secretary Job, With Khabib as Backup Against the ‘Lunatic Left’

The White House has gone three weeks without a press secretary. On Saturday, the president posted a job offer that reads like a fight poster.

“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I have requested that he bring with him assistants, even though some are not from our Country, of Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, and Kayla Harris. We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left. Dana will be a Press Secretary like none other. Dana, please take the job!”

The post came with a picture of White in a dark suit behind the press secretary’s lectern, seal and flags behind him, and six growling fighters lined up below. The White House’s own Rapid Response account put the screenshot out within the hour.

The roster

Trump didn’t pick names at random. Khabib Nurmagomedov retired unbeaten at 29–0. Islam Makhachev is his training partner and successor; both are from Dagestan in Russia, which is the “not from our Country” part. Justin Gaethje and Daniel Cormier are Americans, and Cormier was a U.S. Olympic wrestler. Amanda Nunes is from Brazil. “Kayla Harris” is Kayla Harrison, the two-time Olympic judo champion Trump personally congratulated when she won UFC gold at UFC 316 in June 2025.

Read it the way Trump wrote it: a press secretary who doesn’t back down, backed by people who don’t back down.

The vacancy

The job has been open since Oct. 16. Karoline Leavitt held it from Inauguration Day until Aug. 27. Her successor, Katie Zacharia, started on a Monday, gave one short briefing that Tuesday, and was gone by Friday. “I said, ‘Katie, is this for you?’” Trump told reporters that day, according to the White House pool report. “She said, ‘This is a lot tougher.’ I said, ‘Welcome to the world of Trump.’”

That left the podium empty through the final weeks of the midterms. Saturday’s post comes a day after Trump named Stephen Miller his new chief of staff. The president is rebuilding his inner circle with people who like a fight.

Why White fits the job

Strip away the cage and the press secretary job is simple. You stand at a podium, you take questions from people who want you to fail, and you don’t flinch. White has done that for 25 years. After his big UFC cards he walks into the press room and takes whatever reporters throw at him, live, with no script.

He’s also done it for Trump. White spoke for him at the 2016 and 2020 Republican conventions and introduced him on the final night in Milwaukee in 2024. In June he helped stage UFC Freedom 250, the first UFC card on the White House South Lawn.

Then there’s the team. Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, did media work for the UFC before he joined Trump. He answered about an hour later. “Hell yeah! Do it, @DanaWhite!” Cheung wrote. “It’ll just be like old times!”

Has White said yes?

Not in public. White spent Saturday on X doing his day job, plugging Zuffa Boxing 12 and Saturday night’s UFC Vegas 124 card. Several outlets reported that he posted an Instagram story of himself at the briefing-room lectern captioned “On to the next chapter.” He has not confirmed an acceptance, and the White House hasn’t said whether this is a formal offer.

Either way, Trump got what he wanted on a slow Saturday: the whole country arguing over who should stand at that podium, and his pick is a guy who has never lost a press conference.

What to watch

Whether White answers on camera at the UFC Vegas 124 post-fight press conference. Whether the White House makes the offer formal. And whether any of the six “assistants” say yes. Khabib has been retired since 2020. The press corps has never had to deal with anyone like him.