"It's always loud when he comes here, but now that he's won? Now that he's the President again? Oh, my God," Joe Rogan, a longtime U.F.C. commentator, announced from the floor. Trump closed in on the octagon and pulled Rogan into a long embrace, as the crowd roared. Then, for around twenty minutes, Trump and his allies continued to stand just outside the cage. Every now and then, someone in the audience would start up a chant of "U.S.A." There was a boom of applause when Trump danced to "Y.M.C.A."
The headline fight was between two heavyweight champions, Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic, but much of the audience had come to see the President-elect, who had suggested during an appearance on Rogan's podcast in October that he would be in attendance. ('I'll either go as President, or I'll be depressed and I won't bother going,' he said.)
A twenty-year-old fan named Tiny Boadu, who wore a MAGA hat and a Trump shirt, similarly described Trump as a "person of the people." Boadu said that Trump going to the UFC event made it seem like he wants to be part of what all the regular people do.
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