While speaking to reporters at UFC Vegas 118 Media Day, mixed martial artist Bryce Mitchell criticized the Trump administration for hosting a UFC fight for President Donald Trump's birthday.
Trump previously announced there will be a UFC fight on the White House grounds to celebrate America's semiquincentennial. Trump expects the fight will happen in front of 20,000 to 25,000 people, a proposal backed by former two-division champion Conor McGregor, who confirmed his interest after not having competed since 2021.
Trump has long maintained a close friendship with UFC President Dana White, who has appeared at several of his campaign rallies. Immediately following his 2024 election victory, Trump brought White onstage to publicly thank him for his support during the campaign.
In fact, the first UFC event held after White and his partners took ownership was hosted at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City in 2001. During a 2018 Fox News interview, White said Trump "gave us our start when nobody would talk to us."
The headline fight for the June 14 event will see lightweight contenders Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje face off, while Brazilâs Alex Pereira is set to meet Franceâs Ciryl Gane in a featured undercard matchup. Elsewhere on the card, American fighter Sean O'Malley will take on Canadaâs Aiemann Zahabi, and Michael Chandler is scheduled to fight Brazilâs Mauricio Ruffy.
Mitchell made clear in remarks to reporters that he thinks the scheduled fight is inappropriate given the actual role of a functioning government:
"First off, I ain't jealous of any of those fighters. I am so happy for those fighters. I don't think you could have got a better main event. I'm happy for every single last fighter on that card. For the UFC, I think it's great. It's beyond great. It's literally the perfect scenario."
"But as far as the government: "I'm an economics major. I love studying politics. On the political side of things, not the UFC's business. Of course they're going to say yes to it. But what I think personally is our government is desacrating its role in society by entertaining sports."
"Our government is to protect and serve the people and really should be as minimal as possible. When you're doing all this stuff, hosting sporting events, it's really outside of what the goal of government was intended to be because our tax dollars and resources are funding this operation."
"And like I said, I'm not criticizing the UFC. I love Dana [White]. I love Hunter [Campbell]. I love Sean [Shelby], Mick [Maynard]. I love all of them. And it's an amazing thing. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
"But the government should never be hosting sporting events because there's more room for corruption and we already have a corrupted government. And so, that's my thoughts on it is the government is supposed to protect us, not entertain us."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Mitchell's words resonated with many.
Criticism of the UFC event has intensified in recent days after photos circulated showing a giant metal complex called "The Claw" being erected on the South Lawn of the White House ahead of the fight.
The UFC has committed to paying for repairs and restoration to the South Lawn afterward, but security expenses will not be covered by the company. Security costs, which are expected to be considerable, will instead be handled by the Secret Service and local police agencies using public funds.
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