By Sylvia Xu

President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he offered the White House press secretary job to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) chief Dana White.

White, president and CEO of the UFC, is “a violent Fighter and Warrior,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “I have requested that he bring with him assistants, even though some are not from our Country.”

Trump asked for six current or former UFC titleholders to join White, including ​two athletes from Russia’s Dagestan ​region, Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov; Americans Justin ‌Gaethje, ⁠Daniel Cormier, and “Kayla Harris,” likely a reference to Kayla Harrison; and Amanda Nunes, a Brazilian native who became ​an ​American citizen ⁠last year.

“We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left,” Trump said.

In June, the White House hosted UFC Freedom 250 mixed martial arts matches on the South Lawn.

Trump was an early supporter of mixed martial arts, hosting two UFC events at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City in 2001 and showing up in the front row for the fights.

That started the president and White’s 25 years of friendship.

White said in July 2016 that Trump was the “first guy” who recognized the UFC’s potential during the company’s early days, when “the world refused to host [UFC’s] events.”

“Donald has great business instincts. He supports businesses of all sizes,“ White said at the Republican National Convention in 2016 in support of Trump’s presidential run. ”He’ll make it possible for them to grow and succeed, which is the backbone of a strong economy.”

Since Katie Zacharia left in mid-October after five days in the role of press secretary, the job has been vacant.

“Dana will be a Press Secretary like none other. Dana, please take the job!” Trump wrote.

At a news conference in London for a boxing event on Saturday, White responded to questions about Trump’s post, saying he planned to fly to Washington right after and meet with Trump on Monday.

He declined to reveal details on conversations with Trump but said, “I’m sure I’ll have more to talk about after that.”

Before the news conference, White posted an image of himself standing behind the podium in the White House press briefing room with the caption: “On to the next chapter.”

It was not immediately clear whether White will take the job.

The president announced the offer shortly after posting a statement criticizing Democrats.

“The Democrats are going around threatening a lot of people, including the Attorney General of the United States, and others, with Impeachment and many other forms of punishment, even though they admit they have no reason to do so,” Trump wrote on Truth Social an hour before offering White to be press secretary.

The president also accused Democrats of threatening Republican donors with imprisonment.

“Threatening letters have been sent to many people, all innocent, from Democrat Political Leaders,” he wrote.

Trump said he ordered the Department of Justice to investigate and wrote: “This is Weaponization and Lawfare at another level.”

Democrats brought two impeachments against Trump during his last term. While the House only needs a simple majority vote to adopt articles of impeachment and charge the president, the Senate requires a two-thirds vote to convict and remove him. That’s beyond the Democratic Party’s majority.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.