Dan Le Batard Calls UFC Freedom 250 Event At White House 'Grotesque'

Dan Le Batard and producer Mike Ryan spent a good chunk of a recent show doing what a certain corner of sports media always does when reality doesn't match its worldview: melting down. This time, the target was the UFC, Dana White and, of course, Donald Trump.

Why? Because the UFC continues to do something that drives the left-wing sports media insane: it refuses to pretend its fan base shares the same politics as the people lecturing them on TV, social media and podcasts. 

While discussing UFC 327, Le Batard decided to bring up the upcoming UFC Freedom 250 event set to be staged on the White House lawn. The radical left-wing host called the event "grotesque" and complained that "there isn't another sport where the President of the United States says, 'Hey, let those two teams play,' and that's what I get to watch."

That's a pretty telling line.

Because what Le Batard and company are really upset about isn't that politics and sports have mixed. They've been perfectly fine with that arrangement for years and have been part of the crowd pushing for more politics in sports. The problem is that the UFC's politics don't align with Le Batard's politics. He and his cronies much prefer the radically left-wing NBA, for example. There probably aren't many examples of Le Batard telling the NBA to keep politics out of sports, by the way. 

United States President Donald Trump alongside UFC President and CEO Dana White during the UFC 327 event at Kaseya Center.

(Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Mike Ryan said the quiet part out loud.

"These are straight-up pep rallies for Donald Trump," Ryan said, before adding that the UFC has effectively decided, "We are the sport for MAGA conservatives."

There it is.

The Real Problem Is That UFC Fans Don't Agree With Them

Le Batard mostly took a backseat while Ryan went all in, explaining his disdain for the UFC's decision to feature Trump prominently at events. Ryan also tried to turn it around on conservatives by claiming that someone "cannot be super pro-'I love what UFC is doing with the president' and be a stick-to-sports guy." 

Actually, you can. Quite easily, in fact. The point was never that athletes should stick to sports because they shouldn't have the right to speak their minds. The argument is that it was bad for business for a bunch of left-wing athletes, executives and commissioners to alienate the majority of their fan bases. Sports fans lean conservative. Leagues that embraced left-wing politics saw decreased interest in their product. 

The UFC understands that its fan base leans even more conservative than other leagues, which makes sense. It's hard to fathom there's a large slew of people (Le Batard and cronies being one of the exceptions, apparently) who like watching two people get into a steel cage and beat the hell out of each other and also believe that men can turn themselves into women, that illegal immigrants should have access to public services or that Kamala Harris would have made a good president. 

What Ryan really means is that you can't celebrate politics in sports when those particular politics make him uncomfortable. That's a very different argument, and it's one sports fans have heard for years. 

When athletes kneel, when leagues push empty social justice platitudes, when broadcasters turn games into left-wing sermons, fans are told that's brave, meaningful and necessary. But when Trump gets a hero's welcome at a UFC event, suddenly now it's "propaganda." See how that works? 

Black Lives Matter signage is shown above the court before game one of the second round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs.

(Kim Klement/Imagn Images)

Ryan went further by claiming, "Donald Trump didn't go to the Super Bowl. You know why? Donald Trump was told he'd get booed at the Super Bowl."

Maybe. Maybe not.

But even that line accidentally pinpoints something Ryan didn't intend to say out loud. Trump keeps showing up at UFC events because the fans love him and Le Batard's universe clearly can't stand it. They continue to believe, incorrectly, that most sports fans think like them. 

When Ryan finally stepped off his moral high ground and joined the rest of the unwashed masses who he clearly believes are far beneath him, he made a telling revelation.

"But the fights were good."

Exactly.

The fights were good, the crowd was into it, and Donald Trump got cheered. Dan Le Batard's crew once again learned that not every corner of sports exists to make left-wing media people feel comfortable.