President Trump, some of his cabinet members and his adviser Elon Musk sat ringside in Miami late Saturday night at the Ultimate Fighting Championship event — a spectacle of violence, throbbing music and cheering crowds that the president has long admired.
It’s the second U.F.C. event that Mr. Trump has attended since he was elected for a second time in November, and the first of his presidency. Unlike World Wrestling Entertainment events, U.F.C. matches aren’t staged.
Mr. Trump has been a fan of U.F.C. fights for years. He attended one in late 2019 in New York City during his first presidency. And he brought the chief executive of U.F.C., Dana White, onstage to speak during his victory speech on election night in 2024.
But the scene on Saturday was emblematic of a president who is increasingly emboldened, brazen and encouraging of displays of force to carry out his agenda, particularly on immigration and crime.
Mr. Trump walked into the Kaseya Center to the booming sounds of the Kid Rock song “American Bad Ass” and to sustained, thunderous applause from the crowd. He sat next to Mr. Musk, who had brought one of his 14 children. They sat with the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel; Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a former senator from Florida; the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard; and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines. Also in the Trump entourage was Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas.
When Mr. Trump first arrived, he tried to shake Mr. Kennedy’s hand; Mr. Kennedy was looking in the other direction. Mr. Trump then walked past the outstretched hand of Ms. Hines, moving his gaze past her entirely despite appearing to see her.
Ms. Hines held up her hand in confusion and looked at her husband. Mr. Kennedy brought Ms. Hines over to say hello to Mr. Trump a few moments later, and they spoke cordially, but the apparent snub had already ricocheted across social media.
Mr. Trump stayed for the five main card fights, which lasted until roughly 1 a.m. Sunday.
After the first two fights, the winners scaled the octagonal fence around the ring and opened their arms to the crowd like gladiators. Mr. Trump pointed at them and smiled approvingly. Mr. Musk reposted on X, the social media site he owns, video of a brutal punch thrown by the California-born Dominick Reyes against Nikita Krylov, a Ukrainian fighter, that quickly ended their bout, the first of the night that Mr. Trump witnessed.
Mr. Reyes posed for photos with Mr. Trump outside the ring after his victory.
In the second fight, Bryce Mitchell, an Arkansas-born fighter and a vocal supporter of Mr. Trump for many years, was beaten by his opponent, Jean Silva, a Brazilian.
Earlier this year, Mr. Mitchell faced a firestorm of criticism, including from Mr. White, after he praised Adolf Hitler as a “good guy” who “fought for his country.” Mr. White called the comments “disgusting,” but Mr. Mitchell was not punished, with Mr. White citing free speech as the reason. He later apologized for the comments.
Since his first Republican presidential campaign in 2016, Mr. Trump has incorporated some of the pageantry of wrestling and U.F.C. into his rallies, from playlists to dramatic stage entrances. Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign made expansive use of his decades of hosting professional wrestling events and U.F.C. events as a casino owner, and the adoration many of the fans have for him.
Saturday night was a glimpse into the cultural and pro-Trump ecosystem that helped vault Mr. Trump back into office. Joe Rogan, the wildly popular Texas-based podcaster who conducted an hourslong interview with Mr. Trump at the end of the 2024 campaign, sat near Mr. Trump.
Flying aboard Air Force One for a brief flight from Palm Beach, Fla., to Miami before the fight, Mr. Trump connected attending a fight to a week of trade fights that sent financial markets spiraling.
“So we’re going to the fight,” Mr. Trump said. “We have lots of fights going around the world, and I think we have a lot of good news coming soon about some of those fights, and we’ll see how it goes. But it’s been a it’s been an interesting weekend. I think we have some pretty good news coming on some of the conflicts.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/us/politics/trump-ufc-fight-reyes.html
