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Front Burner

How the UFC became a stage for Trump

6/2/202635 min

At Donald Trump’s election victory event in 2024, he was flanked on stage by a collection of family, senior staff, and Ultimate Fighting Championship president and CEO, Dana White. 

The UFC has, in many ways, functioned as the sporting arm of the MAGA movement. Fighters and the organization itself have pledged incredible support to Trump, and the President has become a ringside fixture at fights. This union is set to culminate later this month with a cage fight scheduled to be held on the White House south lawn. 

Luke Thomas is an MMA journalist and host of the Morning Kombat podcast. He joins the show to talk about the upcoming White House fight, Trump’s decades-long presence in the world of combat sports and how the UFC - once maligned as a bloodsport - became one of the most important cultural institutions in the conservative movement.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Clips

White House Boxer Rollback
UFC Rehabilitates Trump
Right-Wing DNA of MMA
Vice Culture, Not Sport
Sportswashing 101: Buy A Cage

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Speaker 10:00

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  2. Speaker 20:14

    [upbeat music] This is a CBC podcast.

  3. Jayme Poisson· Host0:18

    [upbeat music] Hi, everyone. I'm Jamie Poisson.

  4. Speaker 4· Soundbite0:23

    [cheering] This is what happens when the machine comes after you. What you've seen over the last several years, this is what it looks like.

  5. Jayme Poisson· Host0:40

    That's some audio from Donald Trump's victory party on Election Day in 2024.

  6. Speaker 4· Soundbite0:45

    This is karma, ladies and gentlemen. He deserves this. They deserve it as a family.

  7. Jayme Poisson· Host0:49

    On stage were family, Trump officials, and the president and CEO of a billion-dollar combat sports empire. That man is Dana White of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC. That's whose voice you just heard. The UFC has been described as the sporting arm of the MAGA movement. Fighters have pledged incredible support to Trump, and the president has become a ringside fixture. And the culmination of all of this is set to be held at the White House later this month, a cage fight on the South Lawn.

  8. Speaker 4· Soundbite1:22

    Uh, this is a little different for these political people, and, uh, but these, these are real, these are real warriors.

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