Barack Obama: "I’ve never talked about that publicly" - Dana White reveals surprising exchange with Barack Obama at Donald Trump's inauguration

Heading into the 2024 U.S. presidential elections, UFC CEO Dana White was among the celebrity backers who campaigned for Donald Trump. Naturally, the 56-year-old was at the White House during Trump's inauguration ceremony.

Interestingly, however, a clip of White interacting with former President Barack Obama had many speculating. Now, during a recent appearance on CBS' 60 Minutes, the MMA promoter has come clean on what the pair spoke about at the event.

Speaking to the host, Jon Wertheim, White addressed accusations about the UFC leaning towards the Republican Party, before sharing details about his chat with Obama:

"I am an American citizen. [Joe] Biden was my president. Trump is my president. I was at the inauguration. And I was sitting behind all the ex-presidents. And there was this stuff going around like Dana's mad dogging President Obama. President Obama turned around, the only president that did, and shook my hand and said, 'Congratulations on all your success.' And I said, 'Thank you very much, Mr. President.'... I've never talked about that publicly."

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White added that the UFC would treat every ex-president with the same respect:

"If President Obama called and said, 'Hey, I'd like to come see a fight.' We'd be like, 'Yeah, buy some tickets and good luck or whatever?' No. The sitting president or an ex-president of the United States wants to come to your event, you treat them with respect."

Dana White is set to grace the halls of power once more as the much-anticipated UFC White House card is set to go down in June 2026.

Check out Dana White's comments on his interaction with Barack Obama below (11:17):

When will Dana White build the UFC White House card?

Despite the immense hype surrounding UFC White House, fans can only expect news of a potential lineup from next year. During a recent appearance on the Jim Rome show, Dana White confirmed that he'd start making the card only by February.

Popular stars, including Conor McGregor and Jon Jones, have called for a spot on the historic event. However, White has since shot down the probability of 'Bones' headlining, deeming him unreliable.

According to White, the White House card will host a crowd of 5,000 on the South Lawn, where the fights will take place, with an additional 80,000 joining a watch party in a nearby park.

About the author

Ujwal Jain is a sports journalist who covers MMA at Sportskeeda and holds a bachelor's degree in mass communication and journalism. He has been practicing martial arts from an early age and won several accolades at national-level competitions in karate and Taekwondo. He also holds a back belt in karate. Ujwal loves fact-checking, helping out with related research, and being a fresh set of eyes for fellow writers’ articles.

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