Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White is using his world of combat sports to introduce voters in its audience — which overwhelmingly consists of young men — to right-wing views.
I’ve written a bit on the alliance between White’s world and the conservative movement. He's an avid Donald Trump supporter who spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention. And though White recently tried to downplay his right-wing ties, he’s not coy about his politics, as this video from a UFC event seems to make abundantly clear. In fact, one could argue that White is among the most influential forces in conservative media (if you think I’m being hyperbolic, consider that the UFC is the platform that helped make Joe Rogan an immensely popular podcaster). Given that influence, everyone — particularly American voters — should see it in action and consider what it says about where American politics seem to be headed.
Media watchdog Media Matters for America dropped a video explainer this week on White’s “Power Slap” competition, a tournament in which opponents slap the mess out of one another until someone gives up. White is hosting it on Rumble, a video platform backed and popularized by far-right conservatives.
"Power Slap" videos have trended on social media platforms popular with young people. So to reach that audience, Rumble made a tactical decision to negotiate a deal with "Power Slap," according to Media Matters researcher Justin Horowitz.
"Rumble knows that kids and Gen Z are huge fans of UFC and fighting sports," he explains. "'Power Slap' gives them an easy way to lure those viewers into the right-wing fever swamp." The idea appears to be to use relatively apolitical content like "Power Slap" or skateboarding to draw young people to Rumble, where they would be exposed to figures like Glenn Greenwald and Donald Trump Jr., as well as white nationalists and QAnon conspiracy theorists.
And if you’re looking for more info on how White has shaped the UFC to mirror his conservative politics, you’ll want to watch this conversation between sports podcaster Pablo Torre and MMA journalist Ariel Helwani. Torre and Helwani talk about how White has shifted to the right on issues of "free speech" and now, in Trumpian fashion, tolerates prejudice from his conservative fighters and tries to silence people who report on his organization in ways he doesn't like.
At a time in American politics when we’re discussing an alleged trend of young men becoming more conservative (a questionable assertion, by the way), we can’t ignore the forces that seem intent on pulling them in that direction. White’s sports empire might top that list.