Trump Got Cheered Or Booed At UFC 244, Depending On Who You Ask

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If you were to tell Dana White several months ago that a UFC card headlined by Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz for a fake belt would be the biggest MMA fight of the year, we doubt he’d believe you. Mainly because he almost never allows non-title fights to headline cards … you know, because of the whole brand over individual fighters thing the promotion has going on.

Yet here we are. UFC 244 just went down and was undeniably the biggest deal of 2019 (even with the disappointing end to the main event). Tons of celebrities were there. The Rock himself placed the Baddest Motherf**ker belt around Jorge Masvidal’s waist. Even the president of the United States, Donald Trump, made an appearance and sat cageside. As Masvidal said in a shot on UFC 245’s Usman vs. Covington welterweight championship bout, ‘You don’t see the president showing up for no title fight.’

But did The Donald’s decision to attend UFC 244 boil down to his impeccable taste in quality matchmaking? Or was this an attempt by his team to make up for last week’s embarrassing moment where the president got heartily booed at a World Series game in Washington, DC?

Outsider opinion seemed to assume a UFC event would be full of Trump’s base, the perfect place to show he still has popular support. Beltway pundits say these kinds of optics matter at the moment, especially as impeachment hearings get underway in the capitol. So you better believe his appearance became a political football presented in wildly different ways by different outlets and people.

Team Trump saw it as a great success with nothing but love:

While others noted it was more of a mixed reaction at best.

Of course, President Trump couldn’t help but comment on the controversy with the most Trump response possible:

What do you think, Maniacs? Because apparently objective reality no longer exists and what’s true will be decided by how the appearance ends up being perceived on Monday morning once everyone’s been fed a boo or cheer heavy clip along with a nice spoonful of political bias.