Former President Donald Trump's alignment with mixed martial arts fits his image as a fighter for working-class Americans, Axios reported.
Trump continues to support UFC as he campaigns for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and another four years in the White House.
Trump attended UFC 290 in Las Vegas on July 8. Several fighters celebrated their victories by jumping on top of the cage to point at Trump or shake his hand, Axios reported.
With UFC's audience mostly young and male, the sport seems to offer a natural platform to Trump, whose campaign sees young white men as a supportive group, Axios said.
Trump also credits fighters such as Jorge Masvidal for his success with Latino voters in Florida in the 2020 election. Masvidal is of Cuban descent.
"He was a big fan of mine politically. And I'll tell you, it had a difference. ... I credit a lot of that to Jorge," Trump said on this week's UFC podcast. "You know why I love him? I like people who like me."
A person close to Trump told Axios that Masvidal and Colby Covington are two of Trump's favorite UFC fighters.
Trump calls UFC president Dana White twice a month, talking for an hour about fights, White told reporters in April.
White spoke at the 2016 and 2020 Republican conventions. Trump's hotels hosted UFC fights at a time when many people shunned the emerging sport as too violent.
White credits Trump with being "the first guy that recognized the potential that we saw in the UFC, and encouraged us to build our business."
Trump also calls Ari Emanuel, whose entertainment agency owns UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), "a very good friend. He calls me a lot. I call him a lot, and we talk."
Emanuel, brother of Rahm Emanuel, President Joe Biden's ambassador to Japan, was considered for a White House post in the Trump administration, Axios reported.
Former WWE CEO and chairman Vince McMahon was a top donor to the Trump Foundation.
Linda McMahon, Vince McMahon's estranged wife, was in Trump’s Cabinet as administrator of the Small Business Administration. She then chaired his 2020 campaign's super PAC, Axios reported.
Trump has been a fan of professional wrestling since elementary school.
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