Former United States President Donald Trump appeared at UFC 302 on Saturday night - just days after being convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to adult entertainer Stormy Daniels. He was met with a standing ovation from many fans but was also greeted by a mixture of cheers and boos from others in the raucous MMA crowd.
Trump told his supporters that he would attend the event at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Truth Social, a social media platform he runs after being booted from Twitter. He went to see lightweight champion Islam Makhachev fight and defend his championship No. 4 challenger Dustin Poirier.
"Going to UFC tonight," alerted Trump on the platform. The post received 13,000 likes with over 2,000 reposts and shares supporting Trump in a short perod of time.
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While attending the event firsthand, I interviewed several journalists and fight fans, asking them their thoughts on being in the same building as Trump. One writer who chose to remain anonymous said, "I can't believe he can run for President, but others can't even vote. Asking a fan outside the venue by the Prime hydration station, a UFC fan who also chose not to reveal his identity said, "I think I'll be supporting him... I'm still unsure. I wouldn't reveal my vote to the press anyway, but I can tell you this... based on where we are, I expect a hero's welcome."
UFC champion demands to know how Conor McGregor has become so "jacked"And it wasn't long until some of that came true. Video from the venue showed crowds cheering 'we want Trump' and the one-time most powerful man in the world, also officially joined TikTok.
In his first post to followers he grinned away with Dana White before showing footage of supporters in the crowd.
In the early 2000s, Trump and UFC CEO Dana White formed a close friendship. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, was one of the first wealthy individuals to support the UFC as it aimed to become a touring entertainment company.
This partnership began at UFC 31 when MMA was widely criticized and banned in 36 states. Trump allowed the company to host UFC 31 at the Trump Taj Mahal resort and casino in 2001 and has attended at least four events, with at least two during his presidential term.
But fight fans expressed a mixture of support and disdain for Trump on the platform now called X, a platform he hasn't re-visited since Aug. 2023, when he posted his Fulton Country jail mugshot with a caption that read, "Election interference, never surrender." He then promoted his website, which is directed back to his presidential campaign, where his supporters can donate to fund his efforts.
"Trump and Dana White have been friends for 20+ years, he's always supported the UFC, and vice versa," noted one MMA fan. Another fan in support of Trump's appearance wrote, "It's the ufc. Of course their crowd likes him."
But the naysayers were also in full force online following the former president being found guilty in a Manhattan courthouse, just 16.8 miles away from the fights, for falsifying business records associated with expenses to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just before the election in 2016. "Trump is so embarrassed about this conviction that he is hiding away," passionately wrote a Trump detractor. A fellow fan not impressed with seeing Trump at the venue wrote, "He's allowed outside? How crazy."