Trump’s Ultimate Fighting Coliseum: Are You Not Entertained?
By Nathaniel Allison
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed here are those of the authors. View more opinion on ScoonTV
“In the flabby American spirit there is a buried sadist who finds the bullfight contemptible — what he really desires are gladiators.”
– N. Mailer, The Presidential Papers
President Trump made his walkout to deafening cheers at UFC 314 in Miami on April 12th, 2025. He wasn’t there just as a spectator, he was a part of the show. Trump and his cadre marched out to Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass.” The President is the only non-fighter to have entrance music. After arriving cageside, the music finally stopped, and the audience roared enthusiasm, continuously chanting U.S.A.! The arena was a symphony of exhilaration and bloodlust.
Followed in tow by the Secret Service, his granddaughter Kai Trump, and his White House policy puppets dancing along to the tune of their pied piper – HHS secretary RJK Jr., Secretary of State Marco Rubio, director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, F.B.I. director Kash Patel, senator Ted Cruz, and Elon Musk were all in attendance. An odd attempt at bolstering popularity and legitimacy.
Trump’s using these spectacles as a stage to reinforce his image as a benevolent leader, utilizing the violence in the octagon as a mirror image of American strength. The spectacles divert the nation away from its troubles – distract the masses from the loss of more freedom, of worsening economic woes, political scandals, and escalating global conflicts – but they also can act as social glue for American identity. When the ancient poet Juvenal was satirizing how “bread and circuses” were used to pacify Rome’s populace, he was talking about subsided food and chariot races, not the gladiatorial games.
Before the fight, in an interview from Air Force One, Trump connected his current trade battle against the financial market with his attendance at UFC. Trump said: “So we’re going to the fight, We have lots of fights going around the world, and I think we have a lot of good news coming soon about some of those fights, and we’ll see how it goes. But it’s been an interesting weekend. I think we have some pretty good news coming on about some of the conflicts.” Frequent sights of blood and battle normalizes the sacrifices and demands of war.
Trump sees the UFC fights as a medium for uniting a fractured empire; a space to develop social cohesion. The UFC is now acting as a microcosm of political power. This circus does more than distract, it helps to reinforce American identity. Audiences project their social struggles and hatreds onto athletes. They enjoy punishing people outside of their group identity. This process helps in solidifying their own worldview. Targeting a rival group strengthens the original group’s perspective, channeling societal biases. This experience is intended to be a cathartic experience purging emotions; a controlled space to process tensions.
The global aspect of the competition underlines the empire’s ideology of dominance. Highlighted though ritualized displays of bravery, courage, and discipline. The arena is a stage for emphasizing social hierarchies and biases. The spectators don’t find themselves lost in a mindless mob, individual identities are amplified through group cohesion The arena strengthens a sense of belonging and purpose. These ideals can be subtly promoted worldwide.
The UFC bridges the divides between class and creed. From blue collar workers in the nosebleeds, to corporate Silicon Valley elite and the stars of Hollywood ringside, the organization of the arena seating mirrors American social hierarchies. The seating arrangement reinforces group identities. The audience is a microcosm of America under a banner of shared excitement. The octagon acts as a contemporary coliseum, the squared circle has morphed into a theater of power. The canvas is now streaked with blood like a work of modern art; reminiscent of a brutal version of a Jackson Pollock painting. The muse for this painting is violence. This is the art of brutalization.
Just like in Ancient Rome, these games help reinforce the president’s dominance. Combat has always been a multifaceted tool for statecraft, authoritarian regimes have always exploited them to project power. Tacitus called the gladiatorial games “cheap gore” and Cicero asked “what entertainment?” Seneca said: “I come home more greedy, more cruel and inhumane, because I have been among human beings.”
THE PRAETORIAN MOB
Trump was the first to give Dana White his big break. This was back when Sen. John McCain was calling MMA “human cockfighting.” At the time thirty-six states had laws banning the fights, and pay-per-view wouldn’t televise the events. It was Trump who decided to roll the dice on the UFC in 2001. He allowed Dana White and the Fertitta’s to host their first two events – UFC: 30 & 31 – at his Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. Thus breaking them into the mainstream.
The UFC recently highlighted their relationship with Trump in a UFC 25-year anniversary documentary, Combatant in Chief. It shows Trump’s role in bringing MMA to the world stage. Now a network of propaganda for Trump, UFC fighters have been heavily promoting him since 2016. The same year Trump’s former agent – Ari Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor and TKO group – bought the UFC for $4.2. Billion. UFC’s President Dana White has been heavily involved in helping Trump into the White House. He spoke at the RNC 2020 and 2024, and donated $1 million to Trump’s election campaign.
In 2001, when UFC was on the brink of bankruptcy, it was acquired by Las Vegas casino tycoon’s Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta. They were also a multi-generational family of Sicilian mafia. It was in the early 19th century the Fertitta’s married into the Maceo Syndicate, a powerful mob family from Texas. They ran organized crime in Galveston for more than 30 years. They hit it big during Prohibition; specialized in gambling, prostitution, and bootlegging. While not formally recognized as members of the “family” or La Cosa Nostra, they did have intimate ties with many members – from Al Capone, Frank Nitti, Albert Anastasia, and Moe Dalitz. Their political and economic influence was so profound they were able to turn Galveston into a playground for vice. Their control was so pervasive no Maceo member was ever convicted of a felony, despite all the gangland shootings and murders.
With the death of the heads of the Maceo family, Rosario and Sam Maceo, in the 1950’s – it was the Fertitta family who took the throne. While the Texas Rangers were shutting down much of the Maceo Organization’s illegal activity, the Fertita’s moved their organization to Las Vegas. They decided to transition from crime enterprises to more legitimate business. The Fertitta Group managed casinos – the Stardust, Tropicana, Circus Circus, Sahara, and Fremont. Later founded Station Casinos, one of the largest casino operators in Vegas; and are also owners of the Houston Rockets basketball team.
Before starting the UFC, Dana White tells a story of being forced to leave Boston because the notorious mobster Whitey Bulger was extorting him. He immediately got on a flight to Las Vegas. It wasn’t long until he reconnected with another affiliated mobster, Lorenzo Fertitta. A fellow high school student he lost connection with. It was Dana White who prompted Lorenzo and his brother Frank III to buy the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The finders fee gave Dana a small stake in the company
Trump’s life has always been intimately associated with organized crime himself. He didn’t just operate in an environment, the mob control concrete supply, union activities, and property dealings. His father, Fred Trump, was deeply mobbed up; his business partner Willie Tomasello was an associate for both the Gambino and Genovese families. So it was only natural that when Donald came to New York he gravitated to Roy Cohn, the consiglieri of the Gambino and Genovese families. He worked for mobsters Anthony Salerno, John Gotti, and Carmine Galant. Roy helped embed the mafia ethos into American politics and culture.
Roy Cohn was Trump’s Machiavellian lawyer and political fixer. Cohn became a kind of mentor to Trump, teaching various things like techniques to keep law enforcement off his back, and how to ingratiate with powerful people and manipulate them for his own ends. Cohn was his link between the legitimate and the illegitimate. He was a constant adviser for Trump, both personal and business. Cohn’s philosophy shaped his belligerent public persona. They were best friends for 13 years, until Trump found out Roy Cohn has AIDS and kicked him to the curb, never talking again. You can see still see the Machiavellian spirit of Roy Cohn ingrained in Trump
While these ideals of American Hegemony are promoted through events like the UFC, there is a darker current percolating underneath surface-level politics.
“THE BIGGEST WINNER OF ALL”
This administration is immersed in ideas of what’s called “American Caesar” or “Red Caesarism.” The idea is about creating a dictatorial government, utilizing a form of autocracy Julius Caesar used in ancient Rome. That a strong leader unencumbered by legalistic constraints can lead to a “national rebirth.” Believing that things like the Constitution hinder decisive action. And that a leader should use populist anger to achieve the goals of acting above democracy; exploiting things like growing distrust in democratic institutions.
Trump himself has floated the idea of bypassing the constitution to run for a third term. Former White House strategist Steve Bannon is also singing this tune. There’s a group called the Third Term Project, using imagery of Trump as Julius Caesar to promote this idea. One of the leading conservative think tanks, The Claremont Institute, is at the epicenter of this Red Caesarist thought; promoting it as a response to America’s decline. A senior fellow at Claremont, and former Trump adviser, Michael Anton, is the most prominent advocate of Red Caesarism. Anton has described it as “a form of one-man rule: halfway…. Between monarchy and tyranny.” In a 2021 podcast, Michael Anton and Curtis Yarvin explored these legal and extralegal paths to autocracy.
The underpinning of this philosophy lies with Curtis Yarvin, and his esoteric counterpart Nick Land. Founders of what they called the Dark Enlightenment. Yarvin believes democracy is hindered by an all encompassing bureaucratic structure of media and academia he calls “the Cathedral.” That democracy needs to be replaced with a centralized, monarchical system run like a one-man corporation welding absolute power. What Yarvin calls neocameralism. JD Vance has publicly cited Yarvin, praising his critique of bureaucratic overreach and “woke” institutions. Yarvin’s work at Urbit was funded by technocrat Peter Thiel, who he refers to as a “powerful” thinker. Yarvin has been a popular guest on Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk. You can see philosophical echoes of Elon’s Kindergarten DOGE, in Yarvin’s “RAGE” proposal – Retire All Government Employees.
In Nick Land’s more esoteric version of The Dark Enlightenment, he promotes what he calls “accelerationism”—the idea that capitalism’s chaotic, disruptive forces should be intensified to collapse existing systems and birth something new. He blends a mix of cyberpunk aesthetics, anti-egalitarianism, and a technology as the main thrust of societal transformation. Disruption becomes progress, crisis can be used for transformation. He envisions a fragmented, post-democratic world of competing “patchwork” states, often ruled by tech-driven autocrats. These ideas intersect with Red Caesarism, though Land’s ideas are more abstract. They provide the philosophical scaffolding for rejecting constitutional norms. Yarvin and Land see themselves as part of a revolutionary vanguard.
Written Nov. 4th, 2020, just a few months before the riots of January 6th, the Claremont Institute produced a strategic analysis called “79 Days Report” exploring the potential chaos surrounding the 2020 U.S. presidential election. It examines scenarios such as contested election results, civil unrest, and legal disputes. The report promotes extra-democratic tactics consistent with a Caesarist approach to restoring order. Using electoral breakdown as an opportunity to restructure the governmental landscape. The report shows a broader shift in some conservative circles toward an anti-democratic worldview.
Are underworld forces engineering chaos that can transform America into something more dictatorial? Was the January 6th Capitol attack an attempt at creating an American Caesar? What else is on the horizon?
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