UFC star yells ‘Michelle Obama is a man’ at Donald Trump’s White House event

On Sunday night, UFC star Josh Hokit secured a high-profile victory over Derrick Lewis at the UFC Freedom 250 event held on the White House’s South Lawn to celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary and President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. However, following the victory, he went viral for all the wrong reasons.

During his post-match interview in the ring, Hokit took the opportunity to share a baseless conspiracy theory about former First Lady Michelle Obama.

‘Michelle Obama is a Man’

After his win over Lewis at the high-profile event on the White House lawn, Hokit addressed the crowd in attendance, where he pedaled a right-wing conspiracy theory that Michelle Obama is secretly a transgender woman.

“Michelle Obama is a man,” Hokit yelled into the microphone. “Am I right, America?”

Josh Hokit says “Michelle Obama is a man” after defeating Derrick Lewis on the White House lawn at UFC Freedom 250. pic.twitter.com/qBq4hl4TEx

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 15, 2026

Hokit then walked out of the ring to the cheers from the crowd.

Where Does This Conspiracy Come From?

Obviously, there is no basis to this claim, but the conspiracy theory has persisted for more than a decade and has been peddled by the usual suspects like Alex Jones and Jason Whitlock, despite consistent fact-checks.

Snopes has provided a very thorough history of the consistently debunked conspiracy theory, as well as an explanation as to why it persists. The theory dates back to at least 2008, but it picked up steam in 2014 when the late comedian Joan Rivers was filmed on the streets of New York City claiming that Michelle was transgender and Barack Obama was gay.

Since then, the theory has been amplified and spread, with one Republican state representative in Kentucky even sharing the theory on his Facebook account.

“These claims will likely not go away,” Newly Paul, an associate professor of print/digital media at the University of North Texas, told Snopes via email. “They seem rooted in spite, sexism, and racism, which fact-checks cannot cure.”

Different aspects of the conspiracy theory have been continually debunked on Snopes, PolitiFact, USA Today, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reuters, but it still persists. And thanks to the UFC and Hokit, it was amplified at a massive sporting event watched by millions of people.