Donald Trump is notorious for aggressively firing back at criticism from practically anyone, including political rivals, journalists, celebrities, or even foreign leaders. However, when Joe Rogan‘s comments about the upcoming UFC White House card on June 14, calling it a “gimmick” and a potential “security nightmare,” made their way to him, the president surprisingly responded in a far calmer and more uncharacteristically reflective way than most people expected.

On his podcast in March, during a conversation with comedian Mark Normand, Joe Rogan revealed that he was “not thrilled” with the idea and overall spectacle of hosting fights outside at the White House.

“Yeah, I’m not thrilled about that… I’ll be there, but I’m not thrilled about it; it doesn’t seem like a wise idea,” Rogan had said. “Well, it’s kind of a gimmick, you know. And, you know, people are criticizing the card, but if it was any other card, it’s a great card. Just they’re criticizing it because they said it was gonna be the greatest card of all time.

“And it’s also just gonna be a security nightmare. You’re on the White House lawn. Also, they’re fighting outside. What if it rains? What if it’s hot? You’re in the middle of June. June in D.C. can get pretty warm. That affects fighters.”

Joe Rogan even compared it to the outdoor Abu Dhabi event he once worked, which was also a nightmare, according to the UFC commentator.

“Like, we only did one outside fight that I was part of, and that was in Abu Dhabi, and it was a nightmare,” he added. “It was really hot, and there was bugs flying around that were the size of f—— birds. It was crazy.”

So when he came across these comments recently, instead of blasting Joe Rogan publicly, Donald Trump seemed amused by the criticism.

Speaking during a TIME cover story focused on Dana White, the POTUS admitted that the JRE host’s comments initially bothered him before he eventually embraced the label entirely.

“At first I thought, ‘That’s not nice,’” Trump stated. “And then I realized it is a gimmick. Life is a gimmick, if you think about it, right? But it’s a good gimmick. It’s something that will never happen again.

“Nobody will ever have the privilege of doing something like this in front of the White House. It’s going to be very unique. It’s going to be amazing. I think it’s great for America, frankly.”

Donald Trump’s reaction came across as unusually self-aware. Rather than dismissing the comments entirely, he leaned into the event’s spectacle, arguing that its distinctiveness is precisely what makes UFC Freedom 250 special.

According to the President, the fact that no one will ever have the opportunity to hold fights directly on the White House grounds again is why the event has the potential to be one of the most memorable moments in combat sports history.

And despite Rogan’s concerns, the longtime UFC commentator will be involved with the broadcast when the event finally takes place in June. But there is also no denying that the concerns he raised about the event are actually valid and have even been confirmed by UFC CEO Dana White.

Dana White’s concerns about bugs and weather confirm Joe Rogan’s speculations

Dana White has effectively confirmed many of Joe Rogan’s fears about UFC Freedom 250 during his recent interviews. As Joe Rogan questioned the idea of holding fights outside on the White House lawn in June, White has time and again admitted that weather and insects have already become serious problems behind the scenes.

After attending a dinner hosted by Donald Trump at the White House Rose Garden, the head honcho immediately became worried about the overwhelming number of gnats flying around the property.

“So President Trump just opened the Rose Garden two nights ago, and he invited me to dinner there,” he told Rich Kleiman. “The amount of gnats that were flying around, I’m like, ‘Holy s—.’ As soon as I got on the plane, I called my head of production and said, ‘Yeah, let me tell you about the gnat situation tonight.’

“So when you’re a fighter, think about that lighting grid, the claw that we’re going to have, the amount of power in the lights, moths, gnats, and God knows what else, fighters trying to deal with that. These are all the things I think about. And I never knew that. No. But yeah, in your mouth and your nose while you’re trying to fight.”

Bugs aren’t the only concern. Dana White also admitted that rain, humidity, heat, and strong winds might all have an impact on the June card in Washington, D.C. But the UFC CEO says the organization is prepared to fight through practically anything, but lightning remains the one scenario that could stop the show.

“We’re fighting [through bad weather]. If it f–king snows, we’re fighting. We’re fighting,” White said. “Nothing will stop this show going that night; it could f–king rain—lightning.

“Lightning is the only thing. We’d have to wait it out. We’d have to wait the lightning out and then do the fight.”

So the closer UFC Freedom 250 gets, the more Joe Rogan’s initial skepticism starts sounding pretty reasonable. And that could possibly be the reason why even Donald Trump was uncharacteristically open to the criticism when replying to the concerns raised by the UFC commentator.