Dana White’s White House connection has already been tied to the UFC’s Freedom 250 push, but Saturday night put the UFC CEO near a very different kind of scene. White was inside the Washington Hilton for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner when Secret Service and local police rushed into the ballroom after a reported shooting near the event.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were moved out by security, along with members of his cabinet. Trump later said a police officer was shot at close range but protected by his bulletproof vest before being treated at a local hospital.
“He was shot from very close distance with a very powerful gun, and the vest did the job,” Trump said. “I just spoke to the officer, and he’s doing great.”
White attended as a guest of the president and said he was seated near Trump when the room changed fast.
“Inside, the whole event just started getting noisy, tables getting flipped over, guys running in with guns and they were screaming ‘get down!’” White told USA Today.
White said he stayed upright while the security response unfolded.
“I didn’t get down. It was f*cking awesome. I literally took every minute of it in. It was a pretty crazy, unique experience.”
Watch White’s reaction below:
Dana White after the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinnerpic.twitter.com/EelxmGG6qC
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) April 26, 2026
UFC CEO Dana White was in attendance during the alleged shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and gave his reaction.
"It was f*cking awesome. I literally took every minute of it in. It was a pretty crazy, unique experience."
(via @USATODAY) pic.twitter.com/FHRQVcmHgx
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) April 26, 2026
Dana White was near Trump’s table when security moved in
White said he was close enough to the president’s area that he initially thought the threat might be near his table.
“We were sitting right in front of the table. Right in front of where the president was,” White said. “Nobody got tackled but guys came in looking for shooters and then came towards our table. I thought the shooter was by us or something.”
The suspect was later identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California. Trump said the suspect was armed with multiple weapons and charged through a security checkpoint before opening fire. He praised Secret Service and law enforcement for their response and said the dinner would be rescheduled.
“The response time was really incredible, and we’re going to reschedule,” Trump said. “We’re going to do it again, we’re not going to let anybody take over our society; we’re not going to cancel things because we can’t do that. We wanted to stay tonight. I will tell you, I fought like hell to stay, but it was protocol.”
White has been UFC president since 2001 and became UFC CEO in 2023, which is why his presence at a high-profile Washington event is not some random celebrity cameo. He has also remained one of Trump’s most visible sports-world allies, and he was reportedly seated with Paramount Skydance representatives during the dinner. That detail matters because the UFC is tied to Paramount through its major broadcast shift.
The scare adds another strange turn to White’s political orbit in 2026. The UFC is already promoting its Freedom 250 White House card, and now White has a firsthand account from a security response at one of Washington’s biggest media events.
