Former President Donald Trump took the mic at the Evander Holyfield vs Vitor Belfort fight, and it wasn’t long before the crowd was chanting, “We want Trump!” — possibly responding to his desire to fight the sitting commander-in-chief Joe Biden.
Trump provided alternate broadcast commentary for the Triller Fight Club event on Saturday night, September 11. He ripped Biden and the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, before taking the booth alongside his eldest son Donald Trump Jr, former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos, and welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal. The 45th POTUS also provided commentary while watching his great friend and MMA legend Tito Ortiz take on fellow UFC stalwart Anderson Silva, albeit the Huntington Beach Bad Boy was knocked out cold. Following a powerful rendition of the national anthem to kick off the event, the audience seemed to be in awe of the former president as they chanted his name.
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Trump opened up his first commentary gig by touching on the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. He didn’t mention Biden by name but alluded to “very bad decisions” that were made before the chaotic drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan. The former president promised America would “come back like nobody’s ever seen.”
“As a country, the United States, this is certainly one of the most important days… and we had a very bad week because of some very bad decisions that were made,” Trump said. “And it made it even more somber than it should normally be. We love our country and we’re going to do great things for our country and our country’s going to come back.”
The New York native also honored the 13 US servicemen who were killed in a suicide bombing attack outside Kabul airport, calling them “great warriors”. He eventually switched to boxing, noting how he was excited to watch the legendary fighters on the card. He accidentally called Brazilian MMA legend Silva “Anderson Silver”.
Belfort made quick work of Holyfield in the main card. Trump showered praise on Belfort as he spoke to the fired-up audience at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. “You are some fighter,” Trump said. “I have to tell you, you have a couple of friends between Jorge and Junior, and my son, my ‘junior,’ they said you’re going to do fantastically well…I said, ‘Well, but boxing’s not his thing.’ Junior said, ‘Yes it is, you just watch.’”
Prior to the bout, Belfort ended his remarks with Trump’s presidential campaign tagline, “Let’s make America great again!” The former prez acknowledged the UFC champ’s message as the crowd in attendance chanted his name throughout the evening.
“You are a great patriot and we appreciate it,” Trump told Belfort. “Vitor, your stock was very high, but it’s even higher tonight because you beat somebody who is, I don’t know, I think probably one of the greatest of all time,” he continued. “There’s no question about Evander and we love Evander. I know Evander, and I’ve never seen that happen to Evander. I’ve been with Evander a long time and it’s just one of those things, you were really fantastic.”
Trump also proposed the idea of creating a matchup between Masvidal or Dos Santos as Belfort’s next possible boxing opponent. However, it seems Triller wants to create a fixture between Belfort and YouTuber Jake Paul instead.
