As UFC Freedom 250 approaches, there’s no shortage of criticism surrounding the event from the mainstream media. Holding cage fights on the White House lawn was never going to generate good headlines for U.S. president Donald Trump outside of the MMA bubble, and we’re starting to see some pretty big backlash coming into fight week.
Some of that backlash is coming from interesting places. Joe Rogan — who recently visited the White House to celebrate the signing of a psychedelics bill he convinced Trump to push through — still sounds leery about the event. UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland says he’s going to protest the event at the White House gates. And now right-wing evangelical fighter Bryce Mitchell is ripping into the event as well.
“It’s bulls–t,” Mitchell, who fights Santiago Luna this weekend in the UFC Apex, declared in an interview with streamer Sneako. “As far as the government concerns, this nation’s not about the cage fighters. This nation is about freedom.”
“It’s taking our finest resources in the middle of World War 3 and dedicating it to a sporting event,” he continued. “You know, it’s literally World War 3, we’re we’re bombing innocent children in another country. And instead of focusing on that and the gas price is doubling, instead of taking all of our resources and spending it towards the war that this administration has started, ‘Oh, we’re gonna have a we’re gonna have a birthday party for Donald Trump.’”
“When I look at it as an American, and take my selfishness of wanting to perform for my country out of it, it’s not fair that the government does that on our taxes and our resources.”
Mitchell also took issue with Sean Strickland reportedly being ‘banned’ from attending the White House event, although it’s unclear whether the brash champ was banned for criticizing the event or simply not granted a ticket that’s going to some elite VIP. Critics have said Strickland doesn’t deserve to attend given all his ‘anti-American’ comments, which Mitchell pushed back on.
“Sean Strickland is the definition of a real American, bro,” Mitchell said. “So I can’t get behind anybody that says Sean Strickland is not an American. I mean, you might call him rude or whatever, but to say he’s not American? That’s just a bold faced lie.”
”Strickland should be able to go. I’m definitely not gonna be able to go because, you know, I said I’d go fishing with Hitler. So they’re never gonna let me in there. And you know, they took one thing I said out of context and then told the world that I’m the evil guy. I’m the bad guy. I’m not an American. When dude, I’m an American farmer. Outside of my fighting career, I help feed people in this country. And you have these billionaires telling me that I’m not an American?
“They’re cowards. They’re really just cowards, man. And they’re the ones that aren’t American.”
It’s hard to take anything Bryce Mitchell says too seriously when the man believes the world is flat and once pulped his testicles with a power drill. For the love of God, don’t try to convince anyone that the White House card is right or wrong or moral or immoral with the sentence “Bryce Mitchell said….” But you can use what Mitchell said as a temperature test for what many other Americans like him think of this cage fighting event on the White House lawn. And they don’t like it.