Trump trades the Oval Office for The Octagon with UFC appearance

Miami (CNN) — President Donald Trump traded the Oval Office for The Octagon on Saturday night.

The president arrived to raucous applause at the Kaseya Center in Miami, participating in the “walkout” traditionally reserved for athletes as he became the first sitting president to attend a UFC event.

Trump, who walked out ahead of the featherweight title bout between Australian Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes of Brazil, was joined by close ally Elon Musk, along with top administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and FBI Director Kash Patel. Trump was spotted embracing UFC CEO Dana White, as well as podcast host Joe Rogan and basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, on the arena floor.

His attendance at the late-night fight underscores his reemergence in the American pop cultural mainstream as he deploys the trappings of office to attend some of the nation’s premier sporting events. It also highlights his long and loyal ties to the UFC organization and its CEO, Dana White, and the alignment between the mixed martial arts brand and the young men who propelled Trump back to the White House.

With the exception of nearly weekly trips to his Mar-a-Lago property in South Florida, the president’s domestic travel has been rare during his second term. But since taking office, he has flown aboard Air Force One to attend the Super Bowl in New Orleans, the Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, and the NCAA men’s wrestling championships in Philadelphia.

His warm reception at those events has emphasized his transformation from a pariah and punchline of American popular culture back to the status he enjoyed during his “Apprentice” days.

“President Trump and the UFC are cultural icons. He is a fan of the sport and the elite competitive spirit of all the athletes who step into the Octagon,” White House communications director Steven Cheung told CNN.

Cheung added, “He’ll be sitting cage side, like he always does, and the crowd will erupt in applause as he makes his signature walkout.”

Trump, who has long styled himself a “fighter,” successfully tapped into the male-oriented podcast sphere during his 2024 campaign, boosting his turnout among low-propensity voters as he and top surrogates leaned into interviews with Rogan, Barstool Sports’ “Bussin’ With The Boys,” and Andrew Schulz’s “Flagrant,” among others – offering listeners long-form, unfiltered and un-fact-checked conversations.

Many male-oriented podcasters discuss physical fitness, promote traditional traits of masculinity and often share a deep appreciation for mixed martial arts, specifically UFC.

Founded in 1993, UFC has emerged as a mainstream, major sporting organization in recent years — in parallel, in some ways, to Trump’s political ascendance. In 2019, the sport announced a deal with the Walt Disney Company to broadcast its “Fight Night” events on ESPN+, and UFC broadcasts now reach an estimated 975 million households across 170 countries, according to a recent press release.

Trump has supported the brand for decades, most recently attending a UFC event shortly after his November election victory at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, where he was cheered upon his arrival to a ringside seat, feted with a special video celebrating his win, and flanked by White, Kid Rock, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump Jr.

Like with many of the president’s closest allies, Trump’s longtime friendship with the UFC CEO is one forged in loyalty.

In White’s early days with the organization, he was struggling to secure venues for his fights. Trump agreed to host the event at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City in 2001.

“Nobody wanted to give him a ring because they said it’s a rough sport, a little rough. And I helped him out a little bit and I went and they said, ‘This is the roughest sport I’ve ever seen.’ But I began to like it and he loved it, and nobody’s done a better job in sports,” Trump said during his 2024 victory speech in West Palm Beach as White joined the new president-elect’s nearest and dearest onstage.

White emerged as a key surrogate for Trump in 2024 as his campaign sought to bolster its appeal to young men. UFC has a plugged-in fan base on and offline — boasting tens of millions of followers on social media. One of its biggest stars, Conor McGregor, has 46.7 million Instagram followers.

So when the time came for the then-former president to select someone to introduce him at the Republican National Convention in July 2024, Trump, who was introduced by daughter Ivanka in 2020 and wife Melania in 2016, went with White.

“I’m in the tough guy business, and this man is the toughest, most resilient human being that I’ve ever met in my life,” White said in his remarks, calling Trump a “real American bada**.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan contributed to this report.

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