Trump and martial arts: History of a men’s league.
(Image: T. Schneider/Shutterstock.com )
There is a martial arts boom in the USA. Starting from the US top league, a huge amount of money is earned from the modern sport of gladiators. A look at history.
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However, the keen observer noticed a small but important peculiarity. During the banquet, it was not the grandees of the Republican Party and politically important people who sat next to the newly elected election winner, but rather two of his best male friends, one of them Elon Musk.
An old friend
Less noticed, but hardly less significant, was another of Donald Trump‘s intimates – he sat to Trump’s right at the banquet. The tall, muscular bald man to his right was even allowed to have one that evening – at Trump’s invitation give a short eulogy.
We’re talking about the boss of the largest and most influential martial arts league in the world: UFC founder and owner Dana White. In his remarkable speech, White used the usual MAGA narrative and spoke of political opponents and conspiracies.
That’s what he said: “They couldn’t stop him. He’s unstoppable, he keeps going, he doesn’t give up, he’s the most resilient, hardworking man I’ve ever met in my life”.
But what connects the two self-proclaimed dealmakers? At first glance, little. One is a paunchy real estate mogul and a convicted capital tycoon, the other is a sports entrepreneur with a clean image. At second glance, a lot. At least an old male friendship.
Fight evenings at the Trump Hotel
To understand what role the two play for each other, you have to go back to the early days of the martial arts company. UFC was started – based on White’s brilliant idea – as a comparison competition between all relevant combat sports in the world in order to answer the crucial question of which one was the best and most effective.
So – as part of small events – judoka competed against sumo wrestlers, boxers competed against grappling aces. At the beginning of the 2000s, the UFC was in a deep crisis with its first slogan “There are no rules” – under the watchful eyes of the regulatory authorities and US Senator John McCain, 36 US states banned the UFC and the TV networks withdrew their pay -per-view contracts with White back. The irony of history: the campaign against the sport was initiated by Republican senators.
The league was about to end and White was also on the verge of financial ruin. But rescue was at hand: through the purchase of shares The UFC was saved by the two casino operators Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta from Las Vegas, who recognized the entertainment potential of cage fighting early on.
The UFC achieved its breakthrough, among other things, through fight evenings in a certain hotel – the Taj Mahal in Las Vegas, which is part of the Trump empire.
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During Trump’s first term in office, the UFC was one of the first organizations to be allowed to work again with special regulations. In 2016, 2020 and also in the current election campaign, White was a speaker for Trump. In 2020 he was even part of the advisory staff – without any significant prior knowledge of professional politics.
One last farce: according to media reports, Trump is also said to have stood up for the UFC boss in the “sex tape” trial against Dana White. Trump’s influence appears to have helped: without public fanfare, the charges against White were dropped after paying $10,000.
An important bastion
But Dana White doesn’t just play an important role for Trump because of her campaign appearances. White repeatedly gives Trump mass appearances that appear genuinely apolitical. Trump was allowed to sit next to Dana White and in the spotlight on TV broadcasts at various UFC fight nights, which are particularly popular among a large section of the young, male US working class.
Many active UFC fighters like Sean Strickland or Colby Covington were drumming up support for Trump’s election (see Instagram stories with a reach of millions). There was never any resistance within or publicly at UFC fight nights against Trump or any support for the Democratic Party.
So the UFC – as a gigantic and expanding martial arts company in a sport that has still not ended its years-long high – became and is a suitable resonance chamber for Trump’s ideology and narrative.
What’s exciting is that there are tough, traditional business relationships behind it. Considering that Trump has made a mess with the NFL and NBA through his tirades against individual players, the UFC’s service can hardly be rated highly enough.
The hype surrounding Donald Trump is also spreading in prominent examples in other sports and especially in martial arts: Mike Tyson is considered a Trump supporter and the influential boxer who is immensely influential among young people (who is scheduled to box against Tyson in November) – Jake Paul – wrote on X on Trump’s victory: “The truth and God have triumphed in America. This is a giant step in the right direction to solve the current major problems in the world. America is saved.”
Right hook with guaranteed win
Shortly before the elections, White and Trump caused a publicly planned ideological scandal: In Pittsburgh, Trump declared, he was able to convince White of thisto create a kind of UFC 2.0. In which migrants would compete against Americans.
If you know anything about the UFC circus, it quickly becomes clear how absurd this statement is. Athletes from all nations have long been fighting against each other – sometimes Brazilians, Russians or Americans dominate.
Neither such statements, nor the fact that White is said to have publicly beaten his wife in a videotaped report, that he agitated against women’s fights for a long time (until Ronda Roussey), that Jair Bolsonaro fans and the Qanon movement are tolerated in the UFC, bring about a break the UFC’s also profitable high flight.
According to the UFC’s official business reports, the year 2023 was booming – with an increase of 13 percent compared to the previous year, sales reached 1.3 billion be generated.
Politically, it is worth mentioning that UFC audiences and Trump voters are almost the same sociologically: like that NZZ reported Trump was particularly strong among the under-30 age cohort – especially young men.
