President Donald Trump made his way to Miami on Saturday to sit ringside at the Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight contest. His first return to UFC since taking office, Trump was alongside cabinet members and friends in an environment he’s long felt at home in.
An avid UFC fan, the president was greeted by a standing ovation as Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass” played in the background—a go-to song choice for Trump. The warm welcome follows a week of market tumult spurred by his ongoing tariffs against, and trade wars with, countries across the globe.
Dana White, the president and CEO of UFC, and a longtime friend of Trump, was beside the president throughout the night. On election night in November, when Trump clenched the presidency, White gave one of the victory speeches. And, days later, Trump celebrated at Madison Square Garden for another UFC fight, holding the heavyweight championship belt to cheers from the crowd.
Before the Saturday UFC competition, aboard Air Force One for a brief flight from Palm Beach to Miami, Trump compared the evening’s fight to trade fights that sent financial markets spiraling, according to The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman.
“So we’re going to the fight,” Trump said. “We have lots of fights going around the world, and I think we have a lot of good news coming soon about some of those fights, and we’ll see how it goes. But it’s been an interesting weekend. I think we have some pretty good news coming on some of the conflicts.”
Trump’s allegiance to UFC aligns with a substantial chunk of his base.
According to reporting from Vox based on the sports data site IMG Arena, 75 percent of UFC’s fans are men, and 88 percent of those men are between the ages of 18 and 44. During the past election, all ages of men helped put Trump in office again, including young men—a demographic that former president Joe Biden won in 2020.
He was joined ringside by podcaster Joe Rogan—who formally threw his support behind Trump after conducting an hours-long interview with him on the campaign trail—and the wealthiest person in the world, Elon Musk, dulling rumors that he and the president may be on the outs. Musk brought one of his 14 children. FBI director, Kash Patel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines, were also near Trump.
In a moment that has gained traction online, Trump appeared to snub Hines. Upon arrival, Trump tried to shake Kennedy’s hand, though he was looking in the other direction. “Mr. Trump then walked past the outstretched hand of Ms. Hines, moving his gaze past her entirely despite appearing to see her,” Haberman reported. Hines looked at her hand and then her husband, seemingly confused. While Kennedy and Hines then walked over to Trump and spoke cordially, the video has sparked discussion online.
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The main event of the night was a championship battle between Australian former champion Alexander Volkanovski and Brazilian fighter Diego Lopes, who were dueling it out for the featherweight championship title. Volkanovski won.
After the fights, Trump made his way back to Palm Beach. He’s visited the state ten times since he was sworn in—often to play golf at one of his private clubs.
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