US President Donald Trump attended the Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC) Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event at Madison Square Garden, New York on Saturday. Trump was accompanied by affluent republicans, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, North Carolina rep Mark Meadows, New York rep Peter King along with the 73-year-old American politician's sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump. On his entry, the septuagenarian president was greeted by loud boos amid some cheers.
This is less than a week after Trump was accorded a cold reception at baseball World Series in Washington DC, which he attended with his wife and First Lady Melania Trump. Interestingly, this was on the same day he announced that the US troops had killed the world's most wanted terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Chants of "Lock him up", echoed in the stadium. The politician's son Donald Trump Jr took to Twitter to call out "leftist hacks" and apprised that the welcome his father received was 'overwhelmingly positive'.
Outside Madison Square garden, few protesters chanted "Danger, danger, there's a fascist in the White House" and held placards saying 'Trump/Pence Out Now!' and 'Headlock Him Up!'. This is in the midst of an impeachment probe that the 73-year-old is facing over his alleged pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former vice president and 2020 Presidential runner Joe Biden.
Trump's appearance at the UFC event was his first visit to New York since he announced that he has shifted from his Trump Tower residence in Manhattan and chosen Mar-a-Lago at Palm Beach, Florida as his new permanent residence.
Trump's relation with the UFC goes back to decades, when in its initial years, the sport was shunned by most venues and media, Trump hosted the events at his Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City. This was told by UFC's president Dana White in an interview to The Hill. White also made an appearance at the 2016 Republican National Convention in support of Trump's presidential bid, in which he said, "I would never say anything negative about Trump, because he was there when other people weren't".
