One night after the Netflix app crashed, Donald Trump crashed the gate at Madison Square Garden, making an impromptu appearance at UFC 309 — and the crowd reaction was deafening:
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP AND ELON MUSK ARE WALKING OUT WITH DANA WHITE!!! 🇺🇸#UFC309 | LIVE on TNT Sports Box Office ➡️ https://t.co/uXQAMHNTBd pic.twitter.com/VpggsWHtwZ
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) November 17, 2024
“It’s always loud when he comes in,” UFC commentator (and podcaster extraordinaire) Joe Rogan exclaimed, “but now that he’s won, now that he’s the president again, oh my God!”
Even before he landed in New York, the president-elect and his nominee for the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., were chilling on Trump Force One, taking in the early action:
President @realDonaldTrump and @RobertKennedyJr watching UFC 309 on Trump Force One 🇺🇸
— Margo Martin (@margomartin) November 17, 2024
Be there soon! pic.twitter.com/r8FZnxElVN
(No word if RFK Jr. was also watching Trump eat Big Macs and shooting him dirty looks.)
Naturally, our 47th president didn’t arrive alone. He was accompanied by a motley crew (with apologies to Vince Neil and Tommy Lee, we’re taking “motley crew” back; the '80s ended a long time ago) of rough, rowdy MAGA muscle: Kid Rock, Dana White, Tulsi Gabbard, Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk, House Speaker Mike Johnson, RFK Jr., and sons Donald Jr. and Eric.
This was a big weekend for fight fans: On Friday night, the heavily hyped showdown between Iron Mike Tyson and Jake Paul aired on Netflix. And last night, UFC 309 featured a hotly anticipated heavyweight battle between champ Jon Jones and ex-champ Stipe Miocic. Although the Netflix app froze and crashed on viewers, the UFC pay-per-view telecast was flawless.
In the UFC main event, Jon Jones — who just might be the greatest mixed martial artist of all time — won by TKO with a spinning back kick and a flurry of punches… which he followed with Trump’s signature dance move:
"HOW GOOD IS JONNY BONES?"@JonnyBones | #UFC309 pic.twitter.com/RFUsUppQfz
— UFC (@ufc) November 17, 2024
Such an overt political alliance between the sporting world and presidential politics is highly unusual. Past presidents, including Richard Nixon (football), Barack Obama (basketball), and George W. Bush (baseball), were avid sports fans, but a direct alliance between an athletic organization and a president (the UFC leader spoke at the Republican National Convention and the candidate was promoted on the UFC commentator’s podcast) has never happened before.
But if you understand brand alignment, it’s really not surprising.
Brands are magnets; like attracts like. It’s inevitable: When non-category competitors share enough common attributes, traits, ethos, and audience, it’s akin to an unstoppable force of nature that pulls you together.
Think of the UFC brand: toughness, strength, pride, power, courage, tenacity, and the relentless pursuit of greatness.
Almost word for word, it mirrored Trump’s 2024 campaign themes!
It made a UFC-MAGA alliance irresistable.
Because it’s not something that can be forced. Artificial brand alignments never work because they’re inauthentic; their audience rejects them. Even if Dana White was a stark-raving liberal and loved Kamala Harris, if he showed up with her at Madison Square Garden, the UFC audience would’ve booed them out of the building.
The UFC-MAGA alliance works because it’s authentic.
Returning to the heart of New York City and planting the MAGA flag inside MSG (where, I couldn’t help but notice, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe was weirdly left off the VIP list) sent an unmistakable message to the rest of the country:
MAGA didn’t peak on Election Day. This is still an ascending movement. Even in the liberal nerve center of the Big Apple, MAGA Nation has its fists up and is just getting started!
On a night when Jon Jones successfully defended his UFC title (as well as the post-fight dance-off), we’re reminded of another Jones — John Paul Jones — who defended America during the Revolutionary War. When the British badly damaged his ship and demanded his surrender, he responded with seven words:
“I have not yet begun to fight.”
Same goes for MAGA.
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