During a recent live chat, MMA commentator Luke Thomas delivered an assessment of how the UFC’s political alignment with Donald Trump permanently altered the sport’s identity and audience.
His remarks came in response to a viewer question about Dana White appearing alongside Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro on the The Pat McAfee Show.
“They are realizing that their Trump association is going to negatively impact their brand,” Thomas replied, arguing that the organization’s political positioning has long-term consequences. He continued, “and the way in which they are uniquely responsible within right-wing politics to get Trump back into office cannot be undone.”
Thomas traced what he sees as the pivotal turning point back to UFC 264 in 2021. Recalling the timing, he said, “Six months after January 6, Trump goes to CPAC and on the same weekend he goes to UFC 264, which was McGregor and Poirier 3, and they decide to help rehabilitate this guy to make him palatable to the public again.”
For Thomas, that moment represented more than a routine business decision. “You took a guy who should be in prison, who tried to use a fake elector scheme to win a presidential election,” he said, before adding, “You cannot distance yourself from that. That is what you are and what you will always be.”
In his view, the long-term consequences for the sport are already locked in. “The sport is changed. You changed who’s here. You changed who watches it. You changed what it does. You changed it,” he said.
He also dismissed the idea that appearances with politicians from outside Trump’s political orbit would meaningfully change public perception.
“You can trot out Josh Shapiro. You can trot out whoever the h*ll you want,” he said. “It changes nothing. It means nothing.”
Thomas pointed to the reception Trump received at UFC 327 as a sign that the political coalition surrounding the sport may be showing cracks.
“The fact that you can get Trump at UFC 327 and maybe he gets a little bit of boos or cheers but gets a lot of silence, that’s the Alamo,” he said, using the historical reference to suggest a last stand moment. He added, “If he can’t go there, he really can’t go anywhere.”
Still, Thomas maintained that any shift in crowd reaction does not erase what he sees as the organization’s prior commitments. Turning specifically to White’s public support for Trump, he said, “They want you to see Dana White bring him out as the last speaker at the 2024 convention, to say nothing of 2020 or 2016.”
He continued by referencing past remarks from White, saying, “They want you to see Dana White say he was glad that Trump was going to stick it to everybody on election night.” Thomas concluded that the record of support is clear and visible, adding, “They want you to see all of that but then be quiet about it.”
Thomas closed the discussion with a final, uncompromising statement about what he believes the organization’s stance represents.
“You took a flag and you dug it in the ground and said, ‘We’re with the guy who tried to steal the election. We’re with him,'” he said. He ended by saying, “Okay. Duly noted. Can’t walk that back now. And I won’t let them. Not in a million years.”
