Josh Hokit Claims Michelle Obama Insult Was a Compliment: ‘She Knows How to Work Hard Like a Man’

UFC fighter Josh Hokit has claimed he didn’t intend to insult Michelle Obama when he referred to her as a “man” at the UFC Freedom Event on Sunday, June 14.

Hokit recently appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show, where he discussed the remark, which drew widespread criticism. As Globe previously reported, the 28-year-old made the comment on live television in a post-fight interview after defeating Derrick Lewis in a second-round knockout.

“And lastly, Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America?” Hokit said to the crowd from the Octagon on the White House lawn.

“I thought I was giving her a compliment,” he told host Ariel Helwani in a clip posted to X on Tuesday, June 23.

Helwani said he did not think the rest of viewers felt that way, to which the athlete replied: “It’s like, she knows how to deal with adversity. She knows how to work hard like a man, you know, when the times get tough.”

“Of all the things you could say, why even go there?” Helwani asked.

“I thought it was a perfect opportunity to show the world how great this country is with the freedom of speech,” Hokit continued. “You go somewhere [else in the world] and you say something like that and you die. And I’m not suicidal by the way. I’m in good spirits. I’m a little under the weather right now but other than that, I’m good.”

“In other parts of the world, you say something like that and you’re not here to speak to Ariel Helwani, you know,” he continued. “So yeah, I don’t know there’s a few ways — there’s a few answers to that. There’s a certain side that pokes at another side and there’s no outrage there and so I thought it was a perfect time to take a jab.”

When Helwani asked if he regretted saying it, he said, “That’s one thing about my career…You’ll never hear me backtrack from what I say.”

On Monday, June 15, the former first lady, 62, chose not to speak on Hokit’s comment. Instead, she took to Instagram, sharing a video of her and her husband, former President Barack Obama, meeting with artist Njideka Akunyili.

Speaking in a text message to Time in an article published the following day, UFC President Dana White, 56, denounced Hokit’s comment.

“I understand that the Obama’s [sic] are public figures but I’m completely against saying nasty and false things about people’s families,” White wrote. “Everyone knows my position on free speech but I hate that kind of nonsense.”

“Josh Hokit won the biggest fight of his career at the White House and decides to finish his interview by calling Michelle Obama a Man. What a disgrace,” former NFL star Robert Griffin III wrote via X on June 14.”It takes a really small man to use his biggest moment to attack a woman by calling her a man. Especially with the history behind calling black women men.”