UFC Commentator Slams Dana White For Reviving Trump’s Reputation Post Jan 6

Combat sports analyst Luke Thomas told CNN on Friday that the weekend’s White House octagon events are serving as payback for UFC head Dana White, who helped to revive Donald Trump’s reputation after the January 6 Capitol riots.

Host Brianna Keilar asked Thomas to explain “the kind of synergy between UFC and Donald Trump, and what about this to you, raises concerns.”

“Dana White helped Donald Trump launder his reputation after January 6th,” Thomas said. “January 6th happens, and then the two places that Donald Trump shows up — a CPAC event in February and a CPAC event in that July. And also on that same week was the the trilogy between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. And they do this 2022, ’23 and ’24, giving him the kind of treatment in terms of a basically a de facto campaign rally that you literally cannot even buy, you cannot get anywhere in terms of third-party mainstream validation. As well as roping in, I would also argue in terms of, you know, the Rogan sphere and that kind of media apparatus to help access very, very difficult portions to reach on the electorate — namely, young men.”

“How did you see that laundering his reputation? How did that kind of transform maybe a perception about him after January 6th as you see it?” Keilar asked.

“In order to set the scene here, there’s the preliminary card and then the main card. The main card is like if you buy a pay-per-view, that’s when it starts. It’s the most important fights. [Trump] gets a walk-out between them, the cameras only on him. He’s walking out with Kid Rock, ‘American Badass’ music. He’s walking out with Dana White, sometimes Elon Musk, sometimes Mike Johnson, sometimes Tulsi Gabbard, you name it,” Thomas said, continuing:

Then, they don’t put him in a box like they did for the NBA finals. They put him right in front of the cage. And crucially, the commentators are glad-handing him. They’re talking him up. And the fighters also constantly genuflect before him. They’ll put their belts on him. They’ll use their mic time after they win to be like, “This is the greatest president in the history of the country. We got to put him back in office.” And this happened over and over and over again.

“This weekend is a reward for that,” Thomas said.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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