President Donald Trump has long been loyal to UFC and the manosphere that surrounds it, but that doesn’t mean they’ll do the same for him.
Last Friday, Bryce Mitchell, a 31-year-old MMA fighter, took a hard turn away from Trump, whom Mitchell previously said he would “take a bullet” for. Now, Mitchell thinks Trump is the “anti-Christ.”
“I don’t support him, I don’t like him, I think he’s a corrupted leader, and yeah, it took me a while to come to that conclusion, but I finally am coming to it,” he said in a video posted to Instagram.
Similar to others who had once supported Trump, Mitchell said he initially soured on the president after he refused to release the government’s files on accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
“They’re sending Israel and Ukraine all of our tax dollars, just like the numbnuts before him did,” Mitchell added, denouncing Trump for “blaming the beef farmers for the price of beef.”
Turns out, Trump couldn’t clear even Mitchell’s low moral bar.
Earlier this year, the Arkansas-born fighter called Adolf Hitler a “good guy” on his podcast, where he also denied the Holocaust and made several antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ remarks. In response to that, UFC CEO Dana White, a longtime buddy of Trump, called Mitchell one of the “literally one of the dumbest human beings.”
But young men—and the stars they look up to—have already been creating space between the man they slapped a red hat on for just last year.
Joe Rogan, the popular podcast host and UFC commentator, is also criticizing the president he defended in the past.
Earlier this month, Rogan called out the inhumane treatment of immigrants coming out of Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
“Everybody who has a heart sees that and go[es], ‘That can’t be right,’” he said on “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
“Have a fucking heart,” he added, criticizing Trump for deporting immigrants who have contributed to the society “for 20 years.”
Theo Von, a podcast host and UFC fanatic who attended Trump’s inauguration, wasn’t happy when his face was associated with the administration.
Last month, Von requested that the Department of Homeland Security remove a video on social media in which they used him to promote their deportation efforts.
“Heard you got deported, dude—bye!” Von said in the now-deleted video, which the Trump administration took out of context from a previously recorded clip of Von.
Responding, Von wrote in a deleted tweet, “Yooo DHS i didnt approve to be used in this.”
“I know you know my address so send a check,” he continued. “And please take this down and please keep me out of your ‘banger’ deportation videos. When it comes to immigration my thoughts and heart are a lot more nuanced than this video allows. Bye!”
Trump’s young voters are also turning against him.
In August, the Pew Research Center found that Trump’s approval rating among Trump voters ages 18-34 had declined from 92% in February to 69% in August.
This loss of favor could have to do with plenty of things. It’s possible these voters, similarly to Von and Rogan, are not on board with the administration targeting more than just the hardened, dangerous criminals they promised to remove from the country.
Then again, it could also be the deepening of Trump’s own pockets through shady deals with his own Department of Justice.
But if that doesn’t do it, maybe it’s the continued suffering and struggling of the middle and lower classes to pay for groceries as food benefits freeze, prices rise, and the rich get richer.
Don’t worry, though. At least Trump and the bros left within his manosphere—including racist UFC fighter Conor McGregor—will be hosting their own bloodbath on the White House lawn to make up for it.