There are two men bleeding in a chain-link cage in front of the next president of the United States.
you might punch, knee, kick, and elbow.
At the right angle and speed, it will cut like a scalpel.)
Dana White has been the most important voice in MMA since taking over the UFC.
Late in the fifth round, Oliveira latches onto Chandlers back, squeezing him with all four limbs.
Chandlers mouth guard is painted with an American flag.
He does this slam, impossibly, twice.
Oliveira does not let go.
Oliveira wins, a unanimous decision, but Chandler is triumphant in defeat.
Madison Square Garden, are you not entertained?
From across the cage, I see Trump smile.
As it happens, thats something a whole lot of people want to watch.
THIS IS THE ROUGHEST SPORT IVE EVER SEEN, TRUMP SAYS, AND I LIKE IT.
TheUFCis the gold standard of the sport, valued at some $12 billion on its own.
And it wont happen withoutDana White.
White has effectively spin up the UFC since 2001.
Im like the middleman in this relationship, White tells me.
And were all connected by this UFC thing.
If you want to understand Trumps America, you have to understand the UFC.
Nobody Gave Him Arenas
I meet White for the first time in early September.
Here it is, in short: Its the late Nineties, early 2000s.
Through Lewis, White starts managing some of the fledgling UFCs fighters.
I dont even know if I can put on my next event, White says.
And after we hung up the phone, I was like, Holy shit.
I think theyre done.
I think we could buy the company.
The Fertittas bought the company two months later for a price of $2 million.
Fortunately, he had two dedicated allies: Rogan and Trump.
Its getting swallowed by a greater, more efficient, more spectacular sport.
There will be no new ones.
They will all go to MMA.
Trump has always known what will play well on TV.
I said, This is the roughest sport Ive ever seen, and I began to like it.
White tells me: Trump got it.
Think about where the Trump brand was and where the UFC brand was.
Not only did he get it he also showed up for both events.
He was there for the first prelim of the night, and he stayed through the main event.
White had an aggressive business plan, restarting home-video releases of the shows and doubling down on live events.
Boxing would do Atlantic City, Vegas, and sometimes New York and L.A. We literally went everywhere with the UFC.
(White picked the venue after Tom Brady took him to see U2 play there.)
I meet White at the UFCs corporate headquarters in a sparse industrial district southwest of the Strip.
Still, its a risk the experimental venue and budget throw a wrench in the companys polished live-event process.
The production we have now has taken 25 years to dial in and get right where we want it.
I believe its perfect, White says.
But this week is different.
We dont know whats going to happen.
Is this a good idea?
Well know Saturday night.
But I wanted to attempt it, and I wanted to be first, and here we are.
The buildup to Noche UFC is as big as it gets.
In person, OMalley is quiet and thoughtful: He [Dvalishvili] is good.
Hes as good as he says he is, OMalley tells me before the press conference.
I just believe Im better.
Theyre UFC die-hards, but the parking lot is as close as theyll get to the main event.
We bought flights [to Vegas] as soon as Noche was announced, one tells me.
They plan to watch the fight from one of the many bars on the Strip.
Finally, its fight night.
When the main card starts, the Sphere itself steals the show.
I begin to understand where the $20 million went.
The Sphere projects a four-story hologram of him over the domed screen.
OMalley follows, walking out to Superstar, by Lupe Fiasco.
The crowd goes nuts, chanting Su-ga!
The cage closes, the fight begins.
But tonight, he looks slow.
Dvalishvili is not a subtle fighter.
Hes small and fast and very, very strong.
Before OMalley can establish a rhythm, Dvalishvili is on him.
The Suga-jerseyed fans in the crowd are silent or booing.
The Georgians are ascendant.
They get louder and louder until Dvalishvili is crowned the new champion by the judges unanimous decision.
In the post-fight press conference, well after midnight, White tells it straight.
you might put on $20 million of production, but you cant control the fights, he says.
I cannot let that drive me crazy.
Belgaroui was also eye-poking the shit out of Iwasaki, prompting the referee to deduct a point.
Cage-side, White frowned.
He should be making short work of this guy or else picking on someone his own size.
Belgaroui chased him before stabbing a straight right punch into his gut.
Iwasaki crumpled as Belgaroui fired a few more sloppy strikes that glanced off the top of his head.
The boss was not pleased.
When Belgarouis name comes up, he gets the latter.
He was an 11-to-1 favorite against a guy who took a fight on short notice.
Hes a six-foot-five middleweight, White says into a microphone.
He did not impress me tonight.
He won, but it wasnt enough.
Making Ends Meet
I dont know what will happen next to Belgaroui.
But without the UFC, your options are limited.
The biggest fighters make hundreds of thousands if not millions per fight, but theyre outliers.
But when their day job is over, MMAs up-and-comers go right back to work in the gym.
The pain is easy to imagine: a sharp jolt as your brain rattles inside your skull.
It hurts, yes, but theres also an immediate sense of disgrace.
It makes you angry and afraid and ashamed another person has hit you and you couldnt stop them.
Getting hit hard feels awful.
To do it to someone else, however, is one of the greatest feelings in the world.
The former, in most cases, make better fighters.
(I have fought just enough to know that I am the latter.)
The place is filled with wiry fighters reeking of Tiger Balm and sweat.
Theres a guy jumping rope in the corner while another hits pads with his coach.
Tonight, Aminov is fighting for his first belt the Flex Fight Series amateur welterweight title.
Mendez gets a takedown but loses position.
Amateur fights are quick: three three-minute rounds.
Aminov wins in a controversial split decision.
He trains under a grappling coach and former pro, Andy Jimenez.
I like to let fighters be themselves, he says.
Aminov is getting back into regular training after his fight.
We spar for a few rounds.
When you move around with a fighter in the gym, their eyes are dead until they hit you.
IM VERY CLOSE TO ROGAN AND TRUMP, WHITE SAYS.
WERE ALL CONNECTED BY UFC.
Coach, you think this needs stitches?
I think it needs something to keep it closed.
You dont have someone to do that stuff for you … a nurse girlfriend or something?
Aminov laughs and shakes his head.
At least he has insurance, which is more than many fighters have.
This is the grind.
Fighters suffer through constant pain for years before they ever see a cent from it.
There is no pipeline to the pros: There is only the grind.
The vast majority of fighters on this path are men.
After that, the womens game grew rapidly.
The kids at the jitsu gym when they see me, I can see their eyes get wide.
I remember being that kid looking up to others, Blanchfield tells me.
The women before us didnt have anyone to look up to.
There, pros can expect a couple of thousand bucks per fight, maybe doubled if they win.
Let me tell you what, she aint broke now, White said following the fight.
But its clear that in this system, Whites favor can be the most valuable currency.
Hes the pop in of guy where you have to talk to him like you own the joint.
(Penas last fight reportedly netted her somewhere around half a million dollars.)
Theres never been a time when he hasnt given me everything that I could need.
I know what were doing.
The UFCs roster is riddled with testaments to this: fighters whove come from nothing and achieved everything.
The UFCs parent company was projected to make around $2.75 billion in 2024.
In the NFL, NBA, and MLB, that revenue share is closer to 50 percent.
When an athlete leaves the cage for the last time, theyre completely on their own.
Believe me, White says, we do more than everybody does.
I say it all the time: Its not a job, its an opportunity.
The fighters I talk to admit the systems flaws but balk at considering any kind of widespread change.
The grind is the grind.
If you make it to the top, theres no way anyone can say you didnt earn it.
You eat what you kill.
It is expressly right wing now, Thomas says.
The fan base and the sport more generally have been ideologically homogenized.
The union of UFC and what would become MAGA started back in 2015.
Stuff like that would roll into the office.
But I would be honored if you would speak at the Republican Convention.
Im going to run for president, White says.
And everybody everybody told me not to do it.
But you know, this guys been a good guy to me.
Im not going to say no.
In the years since, White and Trumps mutual loyalty has deepened.
But that aint it, White tells me.
Ive been working on Rogan for years, White tells me.
I knew that if I could get him and Trump together that they would hit it off.
(Reps for Rogan did not respond to a request for comment.
A rep for Kushner and Ivanka Trump declined to comment.)
I dont want anything from him, White says.
I dont want anything from this election.
I dont want anything from him in that way, other than his friendship.
A Political Win
It makes sense, of course, that White and Trump would be friends.
But after a single title defense, Ngannous contract negotiations fell apart.
I was abused in that [UFC] contract.
I was powerless, I was voiceless.
On the other side, you have a guy who is the jury and the judge.
He decides what goes.
I dealt with Francis extensively, and its my opinion he was always most concerned with himself.
His own take was reportedly north of $8 million for his first fight with the PFL.
I like that the athletes in control, Davis tells me.
Nobody here is a puppeteer, nobodys here playing favorites.
The line about favorites seems to be a reference to White.
When I bring it up, White responds: Who the fuck is Donn Davis?
Inside the UFC, White has his fighters who he has gone to bat for time and time again.
Most fans dont agree with the matchup at the Garden.
Hell unleash that on the 42-year-old Miocic, who works outside the ring as a firefighter.
I dont want to be remembered for my degression.
The Victory Lap
At the Garden, theres plenty for fans to remember.
Trump arrives just at the start of the main card, entering the arena like a fighter.
White leads him out.
His walkout song, Kid Rocks American Badass, thunders through the arena.
The jumbotrons above the octagon play a sizzle reel of Trump and Vice President-elect J.D.
Vance on the campaign trail.
God spared my life for a reason, drones a recording of Trump, to restore America to greatness.
The crowd is deafening.
Its always loud when he comes in, but now that hes won?
Now that hes the president again?
an elated Rogan says on his broadcast.
I head out into the crowd.
It resonates with a lot of people that are hurting, his friend Ethan says.
When they see a strong figure like that, it gives a sense of hope.
Jonathan and Ethan are Canadian but love Trump.
The fights start up again.
The crowd bursts into chants of USA!
The energy carries all the way through to the main event, through Oliveira and Chandlers wild scrap.
Jones versus Miocic goes about how everyone expected.
Miocic puts up a fight, but is clearly outmatched from the first round.
Miocic, quietly, announces his retirement.
The arena clears out quickly.
MMA isamazing is all I get when I ask one guy why he likes the sport.
The question, then, is how far White can ride this wave.
How far does this new America go?
How long do the fights last?
But theyve tied their fortunes so nakedly to one guys political identity and movement.
Ive got a feeling its not going to last forever.
Theyre in the Navy, visiting from San Diego, and have been following this sport for years.
Neither of these guys are wearing red hats.
Theyre not yelling about the Nelk Boys or Elon Musk.
