https://www.levernews.com/the-real-ufc-white-house-takeover
At first glance, it may seem like one of these things is different than the others, but they are all connected.
First, a bit of history:
In addition to donating over $2 million to the Republican Party and $Thrump, Dana White has carried more water for him than any other figure in professional sports. He also gave $Thrump something of real value, rehabilitation. After the debacle on January 6, 2021, White gave $Thrump access to a hard to reach demographic, blood sport fans. But, White is angling for a far more lucrative prize- the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act, currently making its way through Congress, granting a way out from under from the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, passed in 2000.
The Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act was passed to combat anticompetitive and exploitative practices in the boxing industry.
“I call it {the Boxing Revival Act} the Ali Destruction Act. It takes away all of the economic protections the original Ali Act gives boxers,” says Erik Magraken, managing partner of the law firm MacIsaac & Company and cofounder of the Athlete’s Voice Committee within the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports. “If there was any profession where the athletes deserve most of the cut, it’s prizefighting.”
The Boxing Revival Act of 2026 would create a carveout from the Boxing Reform Act of 2000 by allowing what are known as Unified Boxing Organizations (UBOs) to skirt the requirements of the Boxing Reform Act. And Dana White is already poised to take full advantage of the change.
Zuffa Boxing, formed last year by UFC’s owner, TKO Group Holdings, in a partnership with a Saudi Arabian company and helmed by White.
If the new bill passes, Zuffa would be able to skirt rules that ban boxing companies from entering into anticompetitive contracts, influencing rankings, and failing to fully disclose fight revenue to fighters — depriving boxers of leverage to demand a larger share of their match revenues.
In other words, Zuffa Boxing would be allowed to operate similarly to how the UFC currently controls mixed martial arts (MMA), a dominance that has led to multiple class-action lawsuits.
While $Thrump has yet to offer his trademarked “COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT” to the Boxing Revival ACT, his hosting of an MMA event at the White House certainly offers a tacit endorsement and the Republican Congress is sure to hear that message very clearly. Also, $Thrump, recently upped his “investment” in TKO Holdings.
The Backstory
Dana White got his start in the boxing world by running a gym in Boston. He got chased out of town when he was reportedly extorted by infamous Boston mobster, Whitey Bulgar. White landed in Las Vegas in 1995 and found the new sport of MMA, along with casino operators Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, and they formed Zuffa LLC (Zuffa is the Italian word for “fight”) and purchased the UFC for $2 million.
The UFC struggled for several years, but hit pay dirt with the reality TV series The Ultimate Fighter in 2005. The show was about fighters competing for a UFC contract and helped the fledgling company reach a much wider audience.
Soon after going mainstream, the UFC opened the monopoly playbook and turned its attention to rolling up the competition.
In 2006, the UFC purchased fighter contracts, trademarks, and other intellectual property from the World Fighting Alliance, which ceased all operations after the agreement. That same year, it acquired World Extreme Cagefighting. UFC went on to buy out or acquire Pride Fighting Championships, the International Fight League, and Strikeforce. Eventually, the UFC was the only major MMA promoter left standing.
$Thrump’s involvement with MMA started in 2001, when he hosted some UFC events at his Atlantic City casino and, later became an investor in Affliction Entertainment, an MMA competitor. $Thrump made note of the of the value of market concentration at a 2008 press conference: “If there’s only one organization, you can pay the fighters five dollars, and they’ll be happy to fight“. The very next year Affliction Entertainment sold itself to UFC. When $Thrump ran for office in 2016, White endorsed him at the RNC convention saying, “Donald was the first guy to recognize the potential we saw in the UFC and encouraged us to build our business.”
Five years later, White returned the favor.
After the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the outgoing president suffered a far-reaching fall from grace, with his poll numbers cratering to 29 percent. Twitter blocked him, and the PGA tour stripped a major golf championship from his New Jersey golf course. But Trump still found a warm reception from White and the UFC.
“After Jan. 6, Trump hit rock bottom in the polls,” said MMA analyst Luke Thomas. “Then, six months later, he goes to a UFC event, and the audience is hot for him. He has his own walkout music. The commentators are talking about him. They show him on camera. He’s up front, the fighters genuflect to him. It was a laundering service that would happen for him over and over again, and this is all happening while he is not president.”
By the 2024 election, $Thrump would go on to be featured at six additional UFC events with his own walkout music and White would often personally escort him into the arena.
In closing, while, statistically, young men are not political junkies, they are MMA fans.
Men make up 62 percent of the UFC’s viewership, which also skews younger, with a median age of 37 years old as of the end of 2025, according to TKO Group’s latest annual 10-K report.
The ringside rallies MAY have made a difference. In the 2020 election, Biden enjoyed a 10 point lead with men under 50. By the time of the 2024 election, that lead had turned into a narrow deficit for Harris.
The full article is well worth the read.
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