Most everyone is excited for Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) upcoming White House card next month in Washington D.C., but some are looking at the once-in-a-lifetime event as a true combat “clown show.”
UFC CEO, Dana White, and company have put a lot of work into the promotion’s first-ever fight card on the White House lawn. In partnership with President of the United States Donald Trump, UFC has put plans together to build a massive structure beside the White House, as well as hosting 85,000 fight fans at a nearby park. Not to mention the star-studded fight card that was put together for Trump’s birthday weekend.
All of that said, not everyone is excited to see fights at the White House. This includes former UFC lightweight champion and long-time MMA veteran, Benson Henderson. According to “Smooth,” the White House should be treated with the highest respect and hosting an event there to entertain fight fans is doing a massive “disservice” to all.
“I definitely won’t be tuning in to watch that,” Henderson recently told talkSPORT. “I feel like my country — the White House is not supposed to be a spectacle.
“And they’re turning it into a literal spectacle, a clown show, a circus, which is cool if you like circuses, clown shows and spectacles.
“There’s a reason why we go to these entertainment events, but they’re supposed to be at entertainment venues,” he continued. “I feel like the highest seats of our house, the White House for our country, is not supposed to be a spectacle, not supposed to be a clown show.
“It kind of makes me sad. I’m happy to have been in the UFC and done my part to help further the sport of mixed martial arts, to help make it legitimate.
“But making it a spectacle, making it a show, making it a clown show, making it a circus on my country’s White House… I think it’s a disservice. It’s a disservice to the White House and it’s a disservice, actually, to mixed martial arts as well”
According to joe rogan, benson pioneered the calf kick. I know that because he has said it 649,000 times
i see it like this: dickhead mccain tried to ban the ufc, got em kicked off cable
too violent
well if u dont like violence, dont buy the ppv!
and now we have a president that is such a fan of mma, hes brought the ufc to the wh
Wait until he finds out about the Roman empire. He’s gonna be SOOO PISSED!
Says the guy who kept his toothoick gimmick going for years.
Went to one of his bellator fights, boring of course, then he did some weird christian version of allah ackbar, yelling at the fans for his post fight interview.
I truly dont think he has all his marbles.
well shit man 2012 was a long time ago
Another 649,000 times and he’ll be halfway to the amount of times he’s explained why 12-6 elbows were banned. Then it’ll be chasing the story of how Yoel Romero’s eyelids can bench 500 lbs.
Was he this outspoken when biden had a trans take its top off and show off its tits?
How about when obama lit it up with rainbows for the fags?
If you’re asking whether Benson Henderson was publicly criticizing Democratic administrations on culture-war issues in the same way he’s recently criticized Trump-related issues, I can’t find evidence that he was a prominent public critic of either:
- Biden’s administration over transgender-related events at the White House.
- Obama’s decision to illuminate the White House in rainbow colors after the Supreme Court’s same-sex-marriage ruling in 2015.
What is publicly visible is that Henderson appears to have expressed criticism of Trump and the proposed White House UFC event in recent years, and people familiar with his social media have described him as politically different from many MMA fighters, despite being a devout Christian.
Brother, we are way past that point.
Teddy Roosevelt, too.
If they don’t reference Teddy Roosevelt, I’m going to be highly disappointed.