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MMA podcaster and combat sports analyst Luke Thomas told CNN reporter Audie Cornish on Wednesday that Democrats have no serious presence in the fighting community and have ceded their position to Republicans.
“I mean, listen, young men, through this MMA conduit, this is an important constituency, to be quite honest with you,” Thomas said in an interview about the dominance of conservative culture in combat sports, especially the UFC. “You can like that fact, or you can hate that fact, but it’s a reality, and it’s now a substantial portion of a deciding factor of the electorate as well.”
President Donald Trump made multiple appearances at UFC events alongside Dana White, the CEO of the UFC, during election season. White is a close ally of Trump and visited the White House this week, along with Kid Rock and comedian Bill Maher.
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MMA podcaster and combat analyst Luke Thomas told CNN reporter Audie Cornish on Wednesday that Democrats have no serious presence in the fighting community and have ceded their position to Republicans. (CNN)
Cornish, responding to a clip of UFC commentator and podcaster Joe Rogan saying that Democrats have “lost control of the narrative,” asked Thomas if Democrats have any “presence” in the world of MMA.
“When you talk about control of the narrative, you have to be in the places that people are and in dialogue with that community,” she said. “Is there any presence whatsoever of left, liberal Democrats in the world of MMA or combat sports?”
“I mean, I‘m not a Democrat, but you‘re looking at it,” Thomas responded. “I‘m like the sole representative. I mean, the reality is the left has almost no relationship whatsoever to this audience. It feels to me, this is just my personal observation, that they have punted on them. They feel like it‘s not important or at this point, I would even argue, I‘m not even sure if they know how to rebuild bridges back to them.”
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President Donald Trump made multiple appearances at UFC events alongside Dana White, the CEO of the UFC, during election season. White is a close ally of Trump and visited the White House this week with Kid Rock and comedian Bill Maher. (Brad Penner-Imagn Images)
Thomas clarified that Democrats do not need “agree to everything” with the fighting community, but said that taking up prominence in combat sports and reaching young men is a practical political question.
“But again, it‘s a very simple question,” Thomas said. “Does this constituency matter? Does this portion of the electorate matter? And if you want to win elections going forward, and I realize that there‘s a lot going on that is going to require a lot of different arms of the government to be focused on a number of issues. But the right and the UFC, they focused on young men — look at the results.”
“If the Democrats want to, and again, I cannot speak for them, but it just appears to me, if they want to recapture anything, starting with a bit of self-reflection about why they lost this audience to begin with and what they can do to recapture it, seems fairly essential,” Thomas said.
White has continued to expand the UFC across the world, recently announcing in March that he would bring a boxing promotion to Saudi Arabia.
‘ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
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