PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is attending the UFC heavyweight championship clash at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, combining two things close to his heart: fierce battles inside the octagon and New York City. After a year delay, Stipe Miocic is getting his shot at a third heavyweight championship reign when he battles current champion Jon Jones at UFC 309.
Trump is a longtime UFC enthusiast and frequent attendee of major fights. He made promoting hypermasculine tones a signature of his latest, successful campaign for the White House — as he looked to further widen the gap among male voters between himself and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris . Trump and his top supporters embraced alpha-male terms and often accentuated them with vulgar and demeaning language.
While campaigning, Trump appeared frequently on podcasts, gaming platforms, and with key supporters who described a vote for Trump as a way to demonstrate true manliness. Trump also spent three hours taping a podcast with Joe Rogan, who himself has spoken about hypermasculinity. Harris failed to do a similar appearance with Rogan, citing scheduling conflicts.
A return to Madison Square Garden means revisiting the place where a comedian caused an uproar at a Trump rally last month by likening Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage.” Yet Trump continues to relish visits to New York, where he lived for decades, before moving to his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm .
