New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has made it clear he won’t be attending the UFC event at the White House, despite his recent historic meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
The revelation came during his appearance on the Adam Friedland Show, where the conversation ranged from his unprecedented election victory to his passion for Arsenal Football Club.
During the interview, Mamdani recounted his surreal experience at the White House, describing how he was guided through various rooms before meeting with the president.
While waiting in the Oval Office, he noticed several coffee table books laid out, including one titled “UFC at the White House.” It was a preview of Trump’s plans to bring the combat organization to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
He said: “Then I sit down waiting for the time of the meeting and in front of me are like all these different coffee table books and one of them is UFC at the White House.”
The host then asks: “And so you saw like guys fighting each other?”
He answered negative,saying it was just a visualization of what the Octagon would look like. The host then directly asked if he would attend the event, “Are you going to go?”
Mamdani simply replied, “No.”
The mayor-elect’s visit to the White House became a viral moment, particularly his enigmatic plane selfie with just an emoji caption that drew comparisons to Drake’s social media style.
Mamdani admitted he actually slept during the brief 30-minute flight, dismissing internet speculation that he had consumed an edible before the journey. Despite the online chatter about his appearance, he maintained that throughout the meeting, he remained focused on New York City’s affordability crisis rather than the surreal nature of the situation.
The meeting itself proved surprisingly productive, with Mamdani and Trump discussing key issues affecting New Yorkers including NYCHA housing, groceries, ConEd utility costs, rent, and childcare.
The president gave him a tour of the Oval Office and cabinet room, even showing him portraits of all the presidents, saving FDR for last—a gesture Mamdani appreciated given his LaGuardia-inspired agenda. “You don’t have the LaGuardia record if you don’t have FDR,” he noted.
The 31-year-old politician’s rapid rise from relative obscurity to mayor-elect has been nothing short of remarkable. He admitted that even his friends didn’t know what an assembly member was before his mayoral run, and he only gave himself a “3% chance of winning”—perhaps even being generous with that estimate.
Yet his message of freezing rent for rent-stabilized tenants, implementing fast and free buses, and establishing universal childcare connected with voters tired of being told what government can’t do rather than what it won’t do.
