New reporting from the HuffPost reveals this weekend’s UFC fight on the White House lawn, a pet project of Donald Trump’s to celebrate his 80th birthday, is stacked with fighters who have long histories of racist statements, open transphobia, and allegations of domestic violence.
From HuffPost:
- On Sunday, for President Donald Trump’s birthday (and at a cost of upwards of $60 million), [The White House] will instead host bloodsport, featuring combatants with a long history of wildly racist and other problematic statements, and allegations of domestic violence.
- Josh Hokit, a heavyweight fighter slated to appear at the White House at the explicit request of Trump, once called a Black UFC fighter a “human gorilla,” is no stranger to the N-word, and said he wished he could report his mom, who is Mexican, to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
- He’s also repeatedly accused high-profile women of being men, including former first lady Michelle Obama and WNBA star Brittney Griner. “P.S. Michelle Obama is a man,” Hokit, who has described himself as “100% transphobic,” said during a post-match interview in 2025.
- Sean O’Malley, a fighter in the bantamweight bout, has argued it’s OK for him to cheat on his wife because Andrew Tate, a self-described misogynist who’s been charged with rape and human trafficking in Romania, said it was fine.
- “I’m a king, I pay for everything,” O’Malley said on a podcast in 2023. “If I get a little puss on the side, what does that have to do with anything? I have testosterone running through my veins; it’s that fucking simple.” He continued, “Andrew Tate explains it well.” He then went on to describe himself as “f**king King Kong.” O’Malley concluded, “It’s status. You know I got status, so I can.”
- More recently, O’Malley apologized to a Chinese fighter after he wore a surgical face mask to their face-off in apparent reference to COVID-19 originating in the country.
- Fighter Ilia Topuria will be fighting for the first time since he and his ex-wife reached an out-of-court settlement after she accused him of domestic abuse.
Read the entire article on HuffPost.
Published: Jun 12, 2026