After winning his bout against Derrick Lewis on Sunday night at the UFC Freedom 250, heavyweight fighter Josh Hokit told the crowd “Michelle Obama is a man.” 

In his celebratory post-fight interview, Hokit said, “Michelle Obama is a man, am I right America,” before walking out of the Octagon. Cheers and laughs broke out from the audience. 

Speaking on Monday following the Sunday night event, Portnoy said, “There was one moment I do think Trump has to denounce, and anybody associated with it has to denounce, and that’s that crazy fighter guy,” referring to Hokit.

“He won the fight, he took the microphone, and he made up a derogatory comment about Michelle Obama. To me, that on the White House lawn — now, these are UFC guys, alright? They’re crazy, they’re idiots. You have Sean Strickland, who’s one of the craziest people of all time, to the point you can’t even pay attention to what he says, snuck in.

“But when you have that on the White House lawn, on an event you put down, I don’t care what you think about the Obamas or anything, that has to be an immediate denounce, like, yeah, doesn’t speak for me.” 

He said he had “no problem with the event,” and said that “I guess you run that risk, because these guys are lunatics, but that was the only thing. If Trump should denounce it, he should say that was totally wrong.”

UFC Freedom 250 took place on the White House South Lawn on Sunday night, with thousands of fans attending. The event featured multiple fights, as well as fireworks and a flyover from the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels. Chants of “USA” broke out from the crowd, with those seated around the octagon being military members, administration officials, and famous figures. In the final fight of the night, American Justin Gaethje defeated Georgian-Spanish champion Ilia Topuria for the UFC lightweight title.