Donald Trump receives ‘staggering’ standing ovation as he makes UFC 302 entrance with Dana White
Donald Trump got the biggest cheer of the night at UFC 302.
The 45th American president made his grand arrival alongside Dana White just before the main card got started at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday night.
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Earlier this week, Trump became the first former or serving US president to be found guilty of a crime when he was convicted of concealing hush money payments made to former porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election campaign.
The 77-year-old has vowed to fight against his historic conviction and continue his bid to become a two-time US president later this year.
Heartwarming footage shows Khabib Nurmagomedov picking Dustin Poirier up off the floor following loss to his protégé Islam Makhachev who choked Poirier out
Trump made his first public appearance since the verdict at UFC 302.
The divisive politician certainly seems to have the support of MMA fans as he received a standing ovation when he arrived to watch Islam Makhachev vs Dustin Poirier.
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UFC commentator Joe Rogan was left stunned by the fan reaction.
He said: "The round of applause he is getting right now is pretty staggering, and you had to imagine that was what was going to happen."
Chants to 'USA' echoed around the arena as Trump took his front-row seat, and he received a massive cheer every time he was beamed onto the big screen.
Trump has been a massive fan of MMA since it got started in 1993.
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Over the past few years, he's attended several UFC shows and he always gets a rousing reception from fans when he arrives at the events.
The UFC boss, who spoke for Trump at the Republican National Convention in 2020, previously explained his relationship with the reality TV star-turned-politician.
"This guy has been so good to me it's unexplainable,” White told Tucker Carlson while recalling his speech for Trump.
"He's been a very good friend to me since the day I met him. When we bought this company it had such a bad stigma attached to it and the sport that we couldn't even get into venues, they didn't want us.
"Donald Trump saw that this thing could possibly be big, plus he's a sports guy who loves sports, and he offered us to come do the event at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.
"He cut us a very fair deal and we went down there and did two events with him where he showed up for the first fight and stayed until the last fight.
"Imagine back then; Trump brand is way up, UFC brand is way down, but he took us in, and he was great.
"Everything that ever happened to me in my career after that day, the first guy to reach out and say congratulations was Donald Trump; whether it was a letter or one time we were on the cover of the New York Times.”
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