US President Donald Trump jokingly offered UFC chief Dana White the job of White House press secretary and listed several fighters he said White should bring on as his aides: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev and four other UFC stars. The following day, on 8 November, Trump said he had been joking, explaining that with the fighters standing alongside White, journalists “wouldn’t mess with him like that”.

On Saturday, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “I am pleased to announce that the great Dana White, a fierce fighter and warrior, has been offered the position of Press Secretary of the United States. I have asked him to bring along some assistants — even if some of them are not from our country: Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes and Kayla Harrison. We need these people to protect us from the crazy left. Dana will be a Press Secretary like no other. Dana, please say yes!”

White played along, posting a photograph of himself standing at the White House podium with the caption “On to the next chapter” and saying he was planning to meet Trump. But the president himself put an end to the speculation: on Sunday, he described the post as a joke. That same day, Trump published a cartoon showing White conducting a press briefing while UFC fighters attack journalists. The joke was rather literal.

Speaking on the independent Russian television channel Dozhd, Yevgeny Kirillov, creator of the YouTube channels Boyevye Botaniki and Tabunker, suggested that the choice of fighters was an attempt by the MAGA movement — Trump’s political movement, named after his slogan Make America Great Again — to take the issue of inclusivity away from the Democrats.

“By naming Makhachev and Nurmagomedov, Trump, in my view, wants to take over a political trend that has been popular with the Democrats. In the past, the representation of Muslims was very much a Democratic Party trademark. Now Donald is showing the flexibility of MAGA, suggesting that conservatives can also support inclusivity,” Kirillov said.

Kirillov believes that while the Democrats have recently been bringing “some educated, respectable Muslims” into mainstream politics and Congress, Trump is “raising up on his banners real, down-to-earth guys who are popular with ordinary people”.

But, he added, there is “one small catch” that could derail the grand plan: “Unfortunately, as non-US citizens, Khabib and Islam would simply not be allowed by the Secret Service to work at the White House.”

Nurmagomedov had a brief meeting with Donald Trump at UFC 302 in June 2024. Nurmagomedov told him: “I know you will stop the war in Palestine.” Trump replied: “We will stop it.” Some reports quoted his response as “I will stop the war”. No full transcript of the conversation is available.

Later, Khabib’s coach Javier Mendez recounted what the fighter had asked Trump: “Is there anything you can do about the war in Palestine? Stop the war?” The fighter’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, said Trump had described Nurmagomedov as his favourite fighter. After their meeting, the president publicly praised Khabib, calling him “probably the greatest fighter of all time”.