As the UFC prepares to host a star-studded card on the White House lawn later this year, CEO Dana White is reiterating his position that the move isn’t inherently political.
During a recent panel with Bloomberg, White fielded a question about whether there would be any challenges for the UFC to attract fighters for the White House event, perhaps because it could be seen as overly political. The UFC CEO laughed off that premise, saying, “I don’t know how it would be too political other than it’s at the White House. If you look back throughout history, I think George Bush was a big baseball fan, Obama was an NBA fan, and Trump is a UFC fan. I don’t think that any of those guys being fans made any sport too political.”
Reasonable minds might think that’s an overly simplistic view to take. After all, White is an outward supporter of President Trump, which partly led to a UFC card taking place on the White House lawn in the first place. And it’s not like the Trump administration has been free from controversy over the past year. So like it or not, holding a UFC event at the White House is going to draw some level of negative reaction among a certain crowd.
Leading UFC journalist Ariel Helwani took that sentiment a step further during a recent episode of his podcast. He called White’s remarks to Bloomberg “disingenuous.”
Ariel Helwani is asked “Will there ever be a time when the UFC realizes that centrists, left-leaning and apolitical fans buy streaming service and event tickets too?”#HelwaniShow pic.twitter.com/bD2nErxIOo
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) January 21, 2026
“It is naive to say that, right now, this presidency and the president’s home, they’re lightning rods. So you can’t compare it to 20-30 years ago. It’s a very very tense time, it’s a very very polarizing time. I’m not giving my commentary here, but c’mon, let’s not kid ourselves. It is. There are people who feel very strongly one way, there are people who feel very strongly the other way,” Helwani began.
“So yes, I can imagine there are fighters who would say … and there have been fighters who have said, ‘I don’t want to fight on this card.’ And I can imagine there are some fans who would be like, ‘I’m not going to watch this.’ Now, I can also imagine there’s going to be a ton who are just going to say, ‘I don’t care. It’s going to be a stacked card. I’m going to watch it and sort of deal with the rest that comes along with it.’ But to just sort of be like, ‘Ah c’mon, other than the fact that it’s at the White House,’ no. That’s a symbol for a lot of things that make people feel one way or the other.
“Now, to compare Trump’s appearances and involvement on UFC cards to Obama being a basketball fan and George Bush being a baseball fan is a little naive as well, and dare I say … disingenuous.
“The reason I say that is when George Bush is trotted out there … he’s doing that as the commander-in-chief. That’s something, you do that, you go back to your both, that’s it. When Obama is doing his basketball thing, he’s not being shown a million times on the broadcast, he’s not getting a grandiose entrance as a candidate,” Helwani said, referencing the elaborate walk-in Trump got at a UFC event during his most recent campaign for president. “It’s not the same thing. It’s nowhere near the same thing. And they’ve never done that with any other candidate.
“We’ve gone over this a million times. Just say what it is. To pretend you are not positioning the company in a certain direction is disingenuous. Just say what it is. ‘I like this guy, I believe in this guy, he’s my friend, I backed him, and I decided I wanted to hitch my wagon to him.’ Because there was a time, and [White] said it to me, where he’s like, ‘We don’t do politics here.’ There was a time where he said that. …’We don’t do politics here. We don’t do religion here.’ And now they do. So yes, the company is political.”
As much as White insists that his MMA promotion has no political skew, it’s clear that he’s made moves that some would perceive as partisan. Heavily featuring Trump on the broadcast when he’s attending events and hosting an event at the White House would seem to erase any suggestion that UFC doesn’t at least dabble in politics.
Whether White wants to admit that or not is his prerogative. And viewers will vote with their remotes and wallets to decide if the UFC’s foray into politics matters from a business perspective.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.