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News18
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Peeling The Layer(s): UFC And Ur-Fascism(?)
Last Updated: Trump recently announced plans for hosting a UFC event on the White House lawn for America's 250th anniversary, highlighting the troubling mix of spectacle, and exploitation. On July 4, 2025, as fireworks illuminated the Washington sky, Donald Trump announced that he would stage a UFC fight on the White House lawn for America's 250th anniversary. With promises of a 20,000–25,000-strong crowd, Trump's gambit transformed the nation's highest office into a gladiatorial arena. For mixed martial arts enthusiasts, the spectacle felt electrifying. Yet beneath the roar of the crowd and the clang of the cage lies a troubling convergence: a pageantry, corporate exploitation, and the unsettling echoes of Umberto Eco's concept of ur-fascism —'Eternal Fascism" defined by an array of traits that can congeal into authoritarianism. As MMA fans, it's thrilling to witness combat on such a grand stage. But to appreciate the sport's heart and soul, we must peel back the veneer of political theater and examine how hypermasculine imagery and athlete oppression combine in a promotion that champions a nationalist spectacle while treating its fighters like mere commodities. Match made in Heaven Trump's ties to the UFC predate his presidency. In 2001, the Trump Taj Mahal rescued UFC 31 and 32 when the promotion was bankrupt, cementing a bond with Dana White that endures two decades later. An opportunity White credits with rescuing the organization from obscurity. Their bond transcended business. White publicly endorsed Trump in all three of his presidential campaigns, speaking at the 2016 Republican National Convention and campaigning alongside him in 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, White partnered with Florida's governor to stage UFC 249—earning praise and a personal video from President Trump as other leagues remained sidelined. After the Capitol raid on January 6 and ensuing political fallout, UFC events offered Trump welcome platforms; he launched his TikTok channel at UFC 302 in 2024, tapping into the promotion's young-male audience. At Madison Square Garden and Mar-a-Lago rallies, White energized crowds with fervent endorsements, even sharing the stage on election night when Trump reclaimed the presidency. White's political involvement culminated in a board appointment at Meta—widely seen as a nod to Trump's influence—before he vowed in November 2024 to avoid politics going forward. Their decades-long alliance illustrates how each elevated the other's brand across sport, media, and politics, forging an enduring partnership built on loyalty and spectacle. The Cult of Tradition Umberto Eco's ur-fascism begins with a cult of tradition, a reverence for the past that brooks no dissent and envisions truth as already revealed—Trump's UFC extravaganza on the White House lawn taps into this impulse. By invoking America's 250-year history, he frames the event as an inevitable, almost sacred continuation of national destiny. Tradition becomes a tool to stifle—a reminder that new ideas and critiques have no place when the founding myth is sacrosanct. This political spectacle almost mirrors the fascist pageantry of the 20th century, where mass rallies, grandiose symbols, and choreographed violence served to unite followers in a mythic narrative. The Octagon, normally a contained ring of athletic competition, becomes a stage for a hyperreal performance of strength, suggesting that national greatness lies in sanctioned brutality rather than democratic discourse. Machismo and the Cult of Death Eco describes a cult of death and machismo inherent to ur-fascism, where heroism equates to a willingness to die—and to send others to their deaths. The UFC's brutal aesthetic, with its visceral bloodsport and knockout highlights, feeds this allure. MMA fans revel in displays of striking prowess and submission mastery, but the narrative often glorifies the idea of 'sacrifice" without acknowledging the human cost. Fighters endure punishing training camps, chronic injuries, and repeated concussions. Yet the UFC offers no cover, or disability benefits. Medical expenses fall squarely on the athlete, who may face lifelong disabilities once the cheering subsides. The Ngannou Episode Eco's essay identifies the rejection of modernism and anti-intellectualism as twin pillars of ur-fascism. This can be noted in UFC's apparent dismissal of practices considered boilerplate for athlete protection. In the UFC's case, White actively discourages fighters from voicing concerns about pay and healthcare, labeling such calls for reform as 'disgusting politics" unworthy of serious debate, and often leverages his relationship with Trump to safeguard UFC's model. When fighters attempt to unionise or demand better conditions, White's retort is swift and dismissive. He uses the same rhetoric as past dictators: framing criticism as betrayal and disloyalty. Francis Ngannou, the heavyweight superstar, requested that the UFC provide health insurance and in-cage sponsorships for all fighters, as well as an athlete advocate to assist them, only to receive the proverbial boot when White refused to extend his contract and accused him of ducking Jon Jones, resulting in a prolonged spat that continues to date. This divide-and-conquer approach ensures that fighters remain isolated, unable to band together for better wages, or safety protocols. It echoes the operator of ur-fascism: by making the very act of questioning a betrayal, authoritarian leaders maintain unquestioned control over both physical and ideological battlegrounds. White reinforces a cult of action for action's sake, ensuring that compliance and spectacle take precedence over meaningful reform; and he amplifies this message through conservative media allies, framing these concessions as a slippery slope toward socialism. The Pay Dilemma For all its blockbuster events, the UFC's financial model is notoriously lopsided. Entry-level fighters earn merely $10,000 to show plus a $10,000 win bonus, while champions rarely exceed $5 million per fight. UFC retains only 13–14.5% of its revenue for fighters which brings into question the bifurcation of its funds. Preliminary-card athletes endure the harshest disparities. In UFC Seattle: Cejudo vs. Song, compliance pay—a catch-all for media obligations, weigh-ins, and promotional interviews—ranged from $4,000 for newcomers to $21,000 for veterans like Andre Fili, who earned that sum despite a loss. Considering most fighters average 2 to 3 appearances a year—after training, travel, management fees, doctors and taxes, many prelim fighters pocket barely enough to cover rent. This economic pressurisation makes athletes feel crushed by larger forces—powers beyond their fathoming. Selective Populism Selective populism, another ur-fascist trait, treats 'the people" as a monolithic entity whose will is embodied solely by a charismatic leader. Trump's UFC spectacle leveraged chants of 'U.S.A." and flag-waving to equate cheering for fighters with patriotic duty. Fans became actors in a populist drama, instructed to see any critique of the event or its labour practices as 'un-American". Some of the fighters themselves are roped in as proxies to add to a general sense of approval—recent examples being Merab Dvalishvili and Kayla Harrison—champions who unwittingly contribute to the optics. Newspeak: Limiting Criticism In Eco's framework, Newspeak—an impoverished vocabulary—ensures that only sanctioned ideas survive. UFC discourse is riddled with slogans like 'Protect the P—pay-per-view" or 'UFC family," conflating corporate messaging with genuine community. Terms like 'fighter empowerment" ring hollow when voices are silenced, replaced by soundbites curated to glorify management's narrative. This controlled vernacular discourages nuanced debate about fundamental assistance, representation, and political influence. Fans are invited to chant and cheer, not to question the tightening grip of corporate and political interests that exploit passion for profit. Toward a Fighter-Centered Future For MMA enthusiasts who breathe every takedown and celebrate each submission, confronting these ur-fascist tendencies is daunting but necessary. The sport's essence—skill, strategy, and sheer willpower—deserves a foundation of fairness and solidarity. Transformative steps include: Establishing a genuine fighters' union to negotiate living wages, transparent revenue sharing, and comprehensive healthcare. Demanding independent oversight of compliance pay and medical protocols, ensuring transparency in how the UFC allocates its billions. Cultivating fan-champion advocacy, where support for killer five-round wars extends to backing athletes' rights outside the cage. top videos View all By recognising the hallmarks of ur-fascism —from the cult of tradition and rejection of modernism to Newspeak—we can reclaim the Octagon as an arena of true athleticism and solidarity, rather than a stage for corporate-authoritarian theatrics. While Dana White's business acumen has propelled both the sport and the UFC to heights unimaginable, there comes a time to evolve and adapt—especially when a business model is growing ever-obsolete owing to current trends. In doing so, MMA fans honour not just the fighters they idolise, but also preserve the sport's integrity for generations to come. News18 Sports brings you the latest updates, live commentary, and highlights from cricket, football, tennis, badmintion, wwe and more. Catch breaking news, live scores, and in-depth coverage. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated! tags : Dana White donald trump mixed martial arts ufc Ultimate Fighting Championship view comments Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: August 05, 2025, 14:35 IST News sports Opinion | Peeling The Layer(s): UFC And Ur-Fascism(?) Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Scotsman
27-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
When Donald Trump stared into laser beams that could have blinded him, he revealed his weak point
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... 'No one speaks to Mr Trump!' These words were my first introduction to the man who would one day become President of the United States, twice. I produced the opening ceremony of his first casino resort, the Taj Mahal, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and I asked for a word with the owner so I could provide him with a briefing about health and safety before he would walk onstage to greet his 10,000 new employees as high-powered laser beams projected coloured light above his head. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad After being told 'No!' by one of his many 'Yes!' men, I proceeded to approach the powerful 6ft3 future world leader all the same. I simply explained that under no circumstances should he look directly into the argon laser beam as it could result in blindness. Donald Trump rubs a magic lamp during the opening ceremony for his Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New York in 1990. It closed in 2016 (Picture: Bill Swersey) | AFP via Getty Images A failure to listen to experts At the event, as the opening notes to his theme song, The Eye of the Tiger, began to play at a deafening level, he strutted forward confidently until the laser projector accidentally fell several several inches, sending a dozen bright green beams through his midsection. He may have misunderstood my instructions and perhaps thought he was being sawn in half. I shouted to tell him to keep walking and he turned to look in my direction. To my horror, he also stared directly into the laser beams. He covered his eyes, dropped to his knees, crawled to the lectern and, in a shaky voice, addressed the cheering crowd. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad That was the first time I saw that within every 'strongman' there is a weak point. His weak point was his failure to listen to experts because he naively believed he had superior knowledge and expertise. READ MORE: A denunciation of Donald Trump Salesmen of political passion Today we seem to have developed a fondness for strongmen, who have been elected or re-elected to high office in countries all over the world. From Brazil and Hungary to Turkey and the Middle East, these big-time salesmen seem to attract support because, as did their predecessors, they know what their needy and disgruntled 'customers' want. These salesmen of political passion offer their supporters a version of the 'emperor's new clothes', with their boundless confidence, endless ideas about how they will punish their rivals and enemies. And this is often delivered through large rallies just as another strongman did in 1930s' Germany before he murdered over six million Jews, Roma people, homosexuals and virtually anyone who was not a member of the Aryan race. When nation states or even local communities feel powerless, they seek personalities who exude the feeling of power and appear to be able to make strong, populist decisions. The problem with this choice is that often these strongmen are ill equipped to rule effectively in the long term – largely because of a combination of their ignorance and rapidly increasing arrogance after winning power – and they begin to make fatal errors that usually result in their eventual downfall. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Whether in the halls of Westminster, Holyrood, or within our local authorities, we need political leaders who can admit they do not have all the answers and who are prepared to seek the advice of experts, not those who stand upon a fragile soapbox of political rhetoric and fleeting charisma while seeking to persuade their supporters to accept their often ill-conceived and short-term ideas. Trump's lack of Enlightenment America's current political illusionist has arrived in our bonnie land, which was the birthplace of his mother Mary. I often wonder how much he really knows about Scotland and our storied past, stretching back to great thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment such as Adam Smith and David Hume. I doubt if he or his so-called advisors – who still appear to be 'Yes' men and women in the style of those that I met – know very much about Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments. 'As we have no immediate experience of what other men feel, we can form no idea of the manner in which they are affected, but by conceiving what we ourselves should feel in the like situation,' Smith wrote, expressing the means to acquire the sort of empathy that Trump seems to lack. I find myself today telling younger citizens that they must vote for strong, well-evidenced policies rather than men or women who are weak but who have strong personalities. I encouraged my university students to vote and if possible to support a political candidate whose values align with their own. Ultimately, I suggested they might stand for public office and through their policies help improve the world! Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Policies over personality However, more and more, I hear my young friends describe political candidates by saying 'I like him…' I remind them that personalities may be manufactured for mass consumption. Social, economic, cultural, environmental, and other policies affect the soul of the nation. We must consider the policies of any candidate for elected office, over and above their personalities, if we are to best exercise our precious democratic right to vote. So, as the weak man from America visits Scotland, I shall use my democratic right of protest and free speech to express my opposition to his policies. Although I may not speak to him directly, I, along with my fellow citizens, will warn him and others of the consequences of his ill-conceived and short-term policies that reveal the multiple weaknesses behind the facade of this illusory strongman. We must find the courage to speak to Trump – the man who supposedly 'no one speaks to' – even more loudly now.
Time of India
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Donald Trump eyes White House lawn as potential UFC battleground for nation's 250th anniversary
The Dana White– connection continues to thrive. And now it's heading straight to the White House lawn. President Donald Trump made a bombshell announcement during the 'America 250' event on the eve of July 4 at the Iowa State Fairgrounds: the UFC will organize a mixed martial arts fight on the grounds of the White House to celebrate America's 250th birthday in 2026. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The event is expected to draw nearly 25,000 spectators to the historic venue. 'Does anybody watch UFC? The great Dana White? We're going to have a UFC fight. We're going to have a UFC fight, think of this on the grounds of the White House,' Trump told the crowd. He continued, 'We have a lot of land there, we're going to build a little. We're not, Dana is going to do it. Dana is great, one of a kind, going to be UFC fight, championship fight, full fight, like 20,000 to 25,000 people, and we're going to do that as part of '250'.' Trump further emphasized the scale of the celebration, adding, 'We're going to have some incredible events, some professional events, some amateur events. But the UFC fight is going to be a big deal, too.' The White House press secretary later confirmed Trump's intentions, calling them 'dead serious.' A UFC official also told CNN that plans are actively being discussed to bring the event to life. The UFC and Donald Trump has a long history It is no secret that Trump and White have been close allies since the early days of the UFC when the sport was banned in nearly all of the states in the US. Moreover, it was termed as 'human cockfighting' owing to the violent and unorganised nature of the promotion when it kicked off in 1993, and in the later years, popularly known as 'The Dark Ages'. Moreover, Trump even offered his illustrious 'Trump Taj Mahal' in Atlantic City way back in 2001 when the UFC was struggling to find venues for its events. And in recent times, this bond has only grown stronger with the POTUS attending multiple UFC PPVs since 2019, including UFC 244, UFC 299, UFC 309, UFC 314, and UFC 316. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Apart from this, Dana White was also part of Trump's presidential campaign and, alongside Joe Rogan, was a big part in getting Trump back into office. It will be interesting to see how the UFC brings its fighting DNA to the culture of the White House. Also Read:
The Independent
01-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Atlantic City casino visitor bets $7 on Wheel of Fortune machine - then hits the jackpot
A lucky gambler won the jackpot at an Atlantic City casino, after placing a bet of just $7. The man from Pennsauken, New Jersey, sat down on an IGT Wheel of Fortune slot machine Thursday evening at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. After placing his modest stake, the player hit spin and watched the symbols flash up on the screen. Seconds later the jackpot message came up with the potentially life-changing news that he had won more than half a million dollars. In total the man, who has not been named, took home $568,871.88. He wasn't the only player to win big at the casino that day though. Earlier, a man from New York placed a $600 bet on an IGT Game King poker machine and won $100,000. Both winners have chosen to remain anonymous, a press release from the casino said. Not everyone who goes to Atlantic City is quite so lucky though. In May last year, a New Jersey woman sued a different casino in Atlantic City after claiming she had won around $2m on a Wheel of Fortune machine. Roney Beal, 72, said she was refused her payout after being told the machine suffered a 'reel tilt' malfunction that voided the win. Casinos were legalized in Atlantic City in 1976 after a referendum by New Jersey voters. The move was made as part of a bid to revitalize the city, with the first casino opening two years later. The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City opened in 1990 and was previously known as Trump Taj Mahal. President Trump, who at the time was a Manhattan real estate mogul, dubbed the Taj Mahal 'the eighth wonder of the world'. But within a year it was in bankruptcy, the victim of unsustainably high levels of debt taken on during its construction. It reopened as the Hard Rock Hotel in 2018, and now has 2,321 slots and 131 table games of poker, blackjack, baccarat, craps and roulette on its 17 acre site. In December 2024, The Economist reported that by 2030, online gambling was set to generate between $60bn-$70bn in revenue a year. For casinos that generate around $85bn each year, the number could jump even higher if opposing states reconsider new licenses.
Indian Express
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Trump attends UFC championship fight in New Jersey, taking a break from Musk feud for cage fights
President Donald Trump walked out to a thunderous standing ovation just ahead of the start of the UFC pay-per-view card at the Prudential Center on Saturday night, putting his public feud with tech billionaire Elon Musk on hold to instead watch the fierce battles inside the cage. Trump was accompanied by UFC President Dana White and the pair headed to their cageside seats for UFC 316 to Kid Rock's 'American Bad Ass.' Trump and White did the same for UFC's card last November at Madison Square Garden, only then they were joined by Musk. Trump shook hands with fans and supporters — a heavyweight lineup that included retired boxing great Mike Tyson — on his way to the cage. Trump was joined by his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, along with son Eric Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Trump shook hands with the UFC broadcast team that included Joe Rogan. Rogan hosted Trump on his podcast for hours in the final stages of the campaign last year. UFC fans went wild for Trump and held mobile devices in their outstretched arms to snap pictures of him. Trump is a longtime UFC enthusiast and frequent attendee of major fights. Trump arrived in time for the start of a card set to include two championship fights. Julianna Peña and Merab Dvalishvili were scheduled to each defend their 135-pound championships. UFC fighter Kevin Holland choked out Vicente Luque to win the first fight with Trump in the building. He scaled the cage and shook hands with Trump. He briefly chatted with Trump and White before he returned for his post-fight interview. Trump has been close to White for more than two decades. White hosted a 2001 UFC battle at Trump Taj Mahal, a former casino-hotel in Atlantic City, and Trump has frequently attended UFC matches since — including during his 2024 campaign. Trump has turned up at fights recently with famous entourages, including White, musician Kid Rock and former Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson. Trump and White's alliance has yielded dividends for both parties. White stumped for Trump at Republican conventions while men who soak up fight nights threw their support behind Trump in the elections.
