Top line
Fighter Gus Hockett made a rude remark about former First Lady Michelle Obama while being interviewed after winning his bout during the controversial UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House lawn on Sunday night, which featured many high-profile attendees, including celebrities, athletes, billionaires and political leaders.
Josh Hockett talks to Joe Rogan after his heavyweight bout win during the UFC Freedom 250 event.
Zova LLC
Basic facts
The show began after a brief weather delay and featured seven bouts on the card and ended with American fighter Justin Gaethje earning an upset victory in the main event against Georgia’s Ilya Topuria to claim the lightweight championship.
One of the most controversial events occurred after the mid-card fight, when UFC commentator and podcaster Joe Rogan interviewed Gus Hockett in the octagon after his win over Derrick Lewis.
Hockett ended the interview by offering 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 by saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, Josh Hockett.”
Before the fight, Hockett presented the boss — who was sitting ringside — with what appeared to be a gold chain with a laminated trading card on it.
What do we know about the Daniel Cormier controversy?
X’s alleged post made by UFC commentator and former heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier hours before the event has sparked another pre-fight controversy. The deleted post included screenshots claiming to show text messages from the president’s son, Eric Trump, asking Cormier if any of the fights at the White House UFC event were rigged. The post was captioned: “UFC is a sport I am extremely passionate about. I will not tolerate this type of internal behavior. Shame on anyone who tries to ruin this beautiful event.” However, the alleged text messages were quickly dismissed by Eric Trump and were quickly deleted from Cormier’s timeline. In response to a screenshot of the president’s son’s alleged post books: “This is completely fake! I’ve never communicated with Daniel. In fact, this is scary.” He followed this before twitter: “We are aware of fake AI-generated screenshots circulating online. I never spoke to Daniel. He has since deleted his post, confirming that it was clearly fabricated.” But X’s post carried a community report that read, “Several journalists and eyewitnesses confirm that Daniel Cormier posted the screenshots himself before deleting them.” Cormier also released an X post Saying“Are people really that stupid?” It is not clear if the MMA star and commentator made the alleged post or if his account was hacked.
An uninvited UFC champion has been removed after sneaking into the event
UFC middleweight champion Shawn Strickland managed to sneak into a UFC Fan Fest event at the Ellipse near the White House on Sunday after previously claiming he was banned from the show. Fighter A participated section From himself entering the event on his Instagram page and it was later spotted Jump into the ring and wave to the cheering fans. It was finally there Take out to the event by armed law enforcement officials and Reports indicate He may face charges of disorderly conduct. The fighter, a staunch Trump supporter for years, recently criticized the president’s war with Iran while attacking Israel. While responding to a fan on Instagram about why he wasn’t invited to the White House event, Strickland He said“I made fun of Israel and Epstein.” The fighter later He claimed He was “not exonerated” by the White House.
Who are the big names attending UFC Freedom 250?
President Donald Trump entered the event flanked by UFC president and prominent supporter Dana White, then sat in the front row alongside the UFC president, his wife Melania, and some other family members. In the middle of the event, the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to the president, who turned 80 on Sunday. There were dozens of other notable attendees at the event, including billionaire and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — a big fan of the UFC and MMA — who greeted the president with his wife, Priscilla Chan. The president was also seen sitting next to Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, the son of billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison. The UFC event was streamed live on Ellison’s streaming platform Paramount+. Also seen at the event were senior members of the Trump administration, including Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Football legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic, boxing star Tyson Fury, and WWE star Roman Reigns were among the most prominent athletes in attendance.
Critical quote
In the Social Truth post that Trump published on Monday morning books: “The UFC at the White House last night was amazing. The weather was supposed to be terrible, and it turned out to be perfect! There’s a lot to predicting the weather… The White House has never looked more beautiful. The preparation was unprecedented! Congratulations to Dana White, and the incredible UFC. One of the most exciting days in the history of our legendary White House!”
