Donald Trump was in attendance at Madison Square Garden for UFC 244. His appearance made Trump the very first president to ever attend a live UFC event, and it came with the Baddest Motherf*cker (BMF) title on the line between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz.
But leading up to the event, there were questions regarding how the crowd would react to the controversial president’s appearance.
When Trump showed up to the World Series in Washington, D.C. between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, he was greeted by the crowd with some heavy boos. Would the mixed martial arts crowd give the president the same reaction in his home state?
Well, Trump made his way to the Octagon to a mix of cheers and boos, but it was a very unTrump-like entrance. There were no bells and whistles, no major jumbotron appearances, and no audio when he was briefly shown on the broadcast at the start of the event. In fact, Trump was never shown on the screen inside of the arena and he made his way to the seat when the lights were dimmed and music was playing prior to the main card.
So why did the president downplay his entrance? As it turns out, the president had some special requests for his appearance.
“Trump demanded he was to be brought in when the lights were down, not shown on the screen in-house, and no audio for when he was shown on the broadcast,” a source told COED.com.
Now, there are a few ways to take this: 1) Trump wanted to avoid being a distraction and causing chaos inside of the arena or 2) Trump wanted to avoid being booed like he was when he made his appearance at Nationals Park during the World Series.
Whatever the case, the president being in attendance wasn’t even the biggest story of the night — thanks, doctor.
Even though Trump’s entrance and presence at the event wasn’t overstated or overplayed, UFC president Dana White believes that simply having a president in the seats marks a big moment for the UFC.
If you missed out on Saturday night’s action, we have you covered.
A full look at the results from UFC 244 can be seen below.
UFC 244 Results
- Jorge Masvidal def. Nate Diaz via TKO (doctor stoppage) — Round, 5:00
- Darren Till def. Kelvin Gastelum via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 30-27)
- Stephen Thompson def. Vicente Luque via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 29-27)
- Derrick Lewis def. Blagoy Ivanov via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
- Kevin Lee def. Gregor Gillespie via KO (head kick) — Round 1, 2:47
- Corey Anderson def. Johnny Walker via (TKO) punches – Round 1, 2:07
- Shane Burgos def. Makwan Amirkhani via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 4:42
- Edmen Shahbazyan def. Brad Tavares via knockout (punches – Round 1, 2:27
- Jair Rozenstruik def. Andrei Arlovski via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:29
- Katlyn Chookagian def. Jennifer Maia via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Lyman Good def. Chance Rencountre via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 2:03
- Hakeem Dawodu def. Julio Arce via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
