Conor McGregor aside, one of the big talking points heading into UFC 264 was that Donald Trump would be in attendance.
In what would be his first major public appearance since losing the 2020 election, Trump did in fact show up as he was ringside behind Dana White for the night’s action.
However, nobody got to see him as the former president of the United States never appeared on the broadcast. This was unintentional as White revealed to TMZ that it was “a massive f*ck up” on the part of his production team.
“What happened was, we was getting ready to show him right between the co-main and main event,” White said. “I think you remember we showed OBJ [Odell Beckham Jr.], then it was supposed to go to David Spade, 2 Chainz, and then the president.
“And we had some kind of a glitch in the truck and then the Conor fight ended up ending in the second round, so we never got a chance. Let me tell you what — massive f*ck up by my production team but, you know, it’s live TV and these things happen.”
White: Reaction To Trump Was Positive
Of course, Trump appeared at UFC 244 back in November 2019 and received a somewhat mixed reaction, though it was more positive than negative. This time, it was very positive as White revealed.
“What sucks too, is if you guys could have saw when he walked into the arena,” White said. “I experienced it in New York, and then I experienced in Vegas. There’s nothing like it, the entire arena gets up on their feet, the whole place stands up, everyone’s got their phones — it’s one of the craziest things that you will ever witness if you’re at a live fight and the president walks in.
“Extremely positive [reaction],” White added when asked how the crowd reacted to Trump.
Luckily, we can see the reaction thanks to footage obtained by TMZ themselves:
