UFC president Dana White.

THE CANADIAN PRESS

LAS VEGAS -- Malcolm X has spoken there. So have Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa.

And now Dana White will take the podium.

The UFC president will join a star-studded list when he addresses the famed Oxford Union Society on Oct. 13.

The 187-year-old society has been known for its ties to the upper tiers of politics, and past speakers include Sir Winston Churchill, Robert Kennedy and Yasser Arafat. The late Benazir Bhutto was once club president when she was a student, long before she was prime minister of Pakistan.

But sports figures have also won invitations. Recent speakers include soccer's Diego Maradona, cricket's Graham Gooch and Geoffrey Boycott, rower Steve Redgrave and boxer Chris Eubank.

Actors invited include Pierce Brosnan, Clint Eastwood and Martin Sheen.

White called the invitation a great honour.

"Anyone who knows anything about me knows I always speak my mind and am very passionate about what I do, and the Oxford Union was founded on exactly those principles," he said in a statement Tuesday. "I'm looking forward to meeting the students, and I know they have a reputation for asking tough questions and expecting straight answers from their guests. That's exactly what they'll get from me."

Other past speakers at the club are former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, as well as Malcolm X, Hawking and Einstein.

"We are delighted that Dana White will be making his contribution to this great tradition when he visits us in October," said Ash Sangha, vice-president of the Oxford Union Society.

"As president of UFC, Dana has created a billion-dollar global sports company in less than a decade and we look forward to hearing his take on the rise of the UFC and giving us greater insight into this phenomenon."

White will be in England for UFC 120, which takes place Oct. 16 in London.