During a recent appearance on The Bulwark podcast with host Tim Miller, combat sports analyst Luke Thomas delivered a critique of Senator Markwayne Mullin, using the Oklahoma Republican as an example of what he sees as MAGA political hypocrisy.
Thomas began by revisiting a past interaction with Mullin, dating back nearly a decade to when Mullin was still serving in the House of Representatives.
“Markwayne Mullen, when I interviewed him maybe 10 years ago, a little bit less, maybe nine years ago, he was a congressman, Markwayne Mullen from Oklahoma,” Thomas said. “He is a former MMA star.”
Miller then questioned the extent of Mullin’s combat background. He said, “He was in five matches. That counts?”
Thomas then offered a measured response. He said, “Pro in regional Oklahoma, not a significantly difficult strength of schedule. Let’s just put it that way. I mean, he was competing against Make-a-Wish kids and s**t like that. Nevertheless, he trained, he competed. There’s something to be said for that.”
Thomas then shifted to what he saw as the more substantive issue, Mullin’s past efforts to introduce figh ter protections into MMA through federal legislation.
“In 2017, as a congressman, Markwayne Mullen tried to take the existing law that I’m referencing on the books,” Thomas explained. “It’s called the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act. It is a piece of labor protection for boxers that was put in place by John McCain in 2000.”
He continued by outlining Mullin’s legislative push at the time. “He tried to put legislation forward that would have extended it to MMA, because it doesn’t apply to MMA,” Thomas said. “It only applies to boxing. And in fact, had UFC executives on the hill in hearings, like cross-examining them, like getting testy with them.”
However, Thomas emphasized that Mullin’s stance appeared to change once the political landscape shifted and his alignment with Trump-era politics solidified.
“All the figh ters who were initially part of that effort to get it extended, they called up Markwayne Mullen and said, ‘Hey, let’s get this going,’” Thomas said. “He had no interest in it whatsoever.”
From there, Thomas tied Mullin’s actions into his broader criticism of what he sees as performative populism within MAGA politics.
“The point I’m trying to make is of course this transactionalism reveals that it’s only about the top 1% or the approved parties,” he said. “But I’m just also trying to underscore, even a guy like Markwayne Mullen who had kind of a little bit of skin in the game and tried to do some good, when MAGA’s sort of priorities became clear, abandon it immediately.”
“These people believe in nothing,” Thomas added.
