The White House’s UFC 250 Freedom event, which was supposed to be a celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday, was overshadowed by a nasty moment when fighter Josh Hokit yelled “Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America?” into the microphone after winning a fight, eliciting some cheers from the audience.
The White House called the comments “nasty and false,” and Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy called for United States President Donald Trump to officially denounce the comments.
“There was one moment I do think Trump has to denounce, and anybody associated with it has to denounce,” Portnoy said. “And that’s that crazy fighter guy… He won the fight, he took the microphone, and he made a derogatory comment about Michelle Obama.”
“When you have that on the White House lawn on an event you put on, I don’t care what you think about the Obamas or anything, that has to be an immediate denounce,” Portnoy continued. “I have no problem with the event. I guess you run that risk because these guys are lunatics. But that was the only thing; Trump should denounce it. He should say it was totally wrong.”
Rather than make any sort of denouncement, Trump praised Hokit and other fighters on Truth Social after the event.
“The Fighters were outstanding — Bo Nickal, Justin Gaethje, Ciryl Gane, Sean O’Malley, Josh Hokit, Mauricio Ruffy, and Diego Lopes were all unbelievable! Most people have never seen anything like that kind of human speed and power before,” the President wrote on Truth Social.
His side of things
Now, Hokit is explaining what he meant by his controversial statement, but his rationale is far-fetched, to say the least.
“I thought I was giving her a compliment,” Hokit said. “I don’t think anyone viewed it as Michelle Obama being a man. It’s more like she knows how to deal with adversity; she knows how to work hard like a man when the times get tough.
Josh Hokit responds to the backlash surrounding his comments about Michelle Obama at the White House:
“I thought I was giving her a compliment. I don’t think anyone viewed it as Michelle Obama being a man. It’s more like she knows how to deal with adversity, she knows how to… pic.twitter.com/N6RzeoWt2i
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 23, 2026
“It was a perfect opportunity to show the world how great this country is with freedom of speech… In other parts of the world, you say something like that and you die. That’s one thing about my career… You’ll never hear me backtrack from what I say.”
Hopefully, the absurdity of Hokit’s most recent comments will lead to an official, more measured response and denouncement from Trump.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.