Madison Square Garden was packed on Saturday night for UFC 309 with as much attention on audience members as the fight itself. Most notably, President-elect Donald Trump showed up with Elon Musk by his side to watch Jon “Bones” Jones defend his undisputed UFC world heavyweight champion title by defeating Stipe Miocic as chants of “USA, USA” filled the arena as Trump made his highly-anticipated entrance after being walked into the arena by Dana White.
Trump and Musk were not alone. They were joined by Vivek Ramaswamy (who alongside Musk will head up a Department of Government Efficiency also known as DOGE), Tulsi Gabbard (who has been tapped by Trump as the director of national intelligence), House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Robert Kennedy Jr. (who Trump has nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services). Don Jr. and Eric Trump also sat with their father’s entourage along with Kid Rock. The group was seated next to Jelly Roll and his entourage. Other celebs in attendance included Deontay Wilder, Tom Aspinall, Anthony Kiedis, Karl Anthony Towns, and Triple H.
Most notably, Jon Jones did the signature “Trump dance” after defeating Miocic in the third round and pointing to Trump who gave him a thumbs up. Jones then presented Trump the championship belt.
Joe Rogan, who met up with Trump after the event for which he provided commentary, stated during the broadcast: “If people at home could hear the sound in this room right now. It is so loud! It’s always loud when he comes in, but now that he’s won [the election], now that he’s the president again, oh my God!”
UFC fighter Jim Miller went a little bit political when he called for justice for Peanut the squirrel during his victory speech. He also said that he hopes DOGE can clean up the misuse of government resources.
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