Last month, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the leading promotion in mixed martial arts, found itself involved in a far-right conspiracy scandal after one of its officials was spotted wearing QAnon markings on their official attire.
Don House, a long-time UFC cutman and friend of the organization’s president, Dana White, appeared on the UFC on ESPN 11 broadcast wearing a Q symbol on his chest and a WWG1WGA marking on the left arm of his shirt, which stands for “Where we go one we go all” and is a popular slogan amongst QAnon conspiracy theorists and supporters. The markings were visible on his clothing during the main event between Curtis Blaydes and Alexander Volkov.
QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory which propagates the idea that the alleged “deep state” is waging an invisible war against US president Donald Trump and his supporters through a secret plot. The theory, which was birthed out of an anonymous 4chan post by a person identifying as “Q Clearance Patriot” – an alleged government official – is rooted in the belief that many liberal Hollywood actors, Democratic politicians and other high-ranking officials are part of an global cabal of pedophiles running an international child sex trafficking ring, and that Trump is trying to dismantle the elitist group.
Despite the lack of evidence supporting their baseless and unhinged claims, the fringe internet conspiracy theory has continued to gain supporters. In 2019, QAnon was labelled a “potential domestic terrorism threat” by the Federal Bureau of Investigations due to its ability to “lead individual extremists to carry out criminal or violent acts”.
House’s decision to display symbols in support of a domestic terrorism threat was lauded by QAnon supporters on the internet and criticized by pundits, which led to the UFC launching an investigation into House’s actions. The organization claimed to have been unaware of House’s decision to wear the markings, and stated that the cutman had not sought permission to wear the symbols.
“This was a violation of our staff event outfitting policy and the matter will be thoroughly investigated,” the UFC said in a statement to ESPN.
House later admitted that he regretted his decision to wear the markings because of the embarrassment it caused White, whom he called a “friend of mine”. However, he also defended QAnon by agreeing with some of the theory’s key principles, including their supposed aim to expose a child sex trafficking ring. “They’re trying to expose that, “ House told MMAFighting.com.
The patches worn by House are not the first time that QAnon has permeated the MMA space. Earlier in June, Albuquerque city councillor Pat Davis tweeted a photo of a flag with the letter Q perched on the roof of the Jackson Wink Academy, a renowned MMA gym that is home to past and present UFC champions such as Holly Holm and Jon Jones. The academy released a statement in which it claimed that the flag was planted by an “unknown individual” and was removed “as soon as it came to our attention”.
Prominent UFC fighters have also been guilty of using QAnon-related hashtags on social media, including UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal, who used a QAnon hashtag when he posted a false quote by Kurt Cobain in reference to Donald Trump. The president previously attended one of Masvidal’s fights at UFC 244 and praised the fighter on social media after Masvidal called Trump a “bad motherfucker”.
Given the trend of prominent QAnon support emerging within the MMA landscape, there appears to be an overlap between a subset of MMA fans and the fringe conspiracy. According to a VOX analysis of the QAnon subreddit /r/greatawakening, many of the casual posters also frequent other subreddits such MMA, fitness and Joe Rogan. They are also avid posters in a variety of Trump-related subreddits.
Yet it is the support for Trump that helps explain why QAnon and other conspiracy theories appear to thrive within combat sports. The UFC brass is unabashedly pro-Trump and has used the promotion as a platform for the president’s ideology, even going so far as to produce a propaganda documentary about Trump called ‘Combatant in Chief’. White, who spoke at the 2016 Republican national convention, has been unapologetic about his support for Trump and has even claimed he doesn’t care if that support alienates fans.
“I don’t give a shit,” White said. “If you don’t like me because I’m friends with this guy, that’s your problem not mine.”
The UFC’s public support for Trump may have cost the promotion a portion of its progressive and ethnically diverse fanbase, but it has helped secure its conservative fandom, many of whom voted for Trump or have right-leaning tendencies. Since the 2016 election, the UFC has even seen the rise of fighters sporting MAGA gimmicks such as Colby Covington, who even visited the Oval Office when he was interim champion. And as more conservative fans flock to the sport they view as MAGA-friendly, there has been a noticeable rise in fake news, fringe conspiracy theories and right-wing extremism.
Former UFC champion Tito Ortiz – a vocal Trump supporter – has flooded his social media timelines with unhinged conspiracy theories, including his most recent claim that George Floyd’s killing at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer was a false flag and political stunt aimed to cause chaos ahead of the upcoming presidential election.
UFC featherweight Bryce Mitchell – who once asked Donald Trump to call him if he “needs help whooping some politician” – believes that the coronavirus is a bioweapon “made by government” in order to “try and take our guns”.
Former UFC title challenger and Special Forces Green Beret Tim Kennedy shared an Instagram post of himself wearing a Hawaiian shirt beneath a bulletproof vest while holding a rifle. The Hawaiian shirt alludes to the Boogaloo Boys, a far-right extremist movement that is preparing for a second American civil war which they call the “boogaloo”. Participants often wear Hawaiian shirts along with military fatigues to identify themselves at protests. Advertisement
Kennedy posted the aforementioned picture in June 2020 along with the caption: “Just don’t be an asshole…if you choose to be an asshole…I picked out a shirt for the occasion…”
Kennedy has since informed the Guardian that he does not support the Boogaloo movement but will continue to wear Hawaiian shirts because he enjoys them.
“I’m from California. I fucking love Hawaiian shirts. I’m not gonna let any extremist group regardless of what their affiliation is claim something that’s awesome,” Kennedy told the Guardian via email. “I also like do European swimsuit a.k.a. the speedo. If some bitch ass motherfucker says that thing is only for an alt right/left, I’ll still wear that banana hammock with pride. I don’t subscribe to any this bullshit. I just do the shit I like to do.”
There has even been a case where an MMA fighter’s photo was used to spread fake news about protestors at a Black Lives Matter event. The post, which showed a cropped version of a woman’s bruised face, claimed that the person was “beaten and raped” at a BLM protest. The photo attached to the post was actually a picture of Russian MMA fighter Anastasia Yankova following her bout at Bellator 161 in September 2016.Advertisement
While MMA has long been a niche sport that attracted interesting and somewhat diverse segments of society, there has been an apparent increase in conservative fandom within the sport. As the UFC continues to develop into a safe haven for MAGA supporters to rally around Trump and his far-right ideology, MMA will continue to be soiled with conspiracy peddlers and bad faith actors who view the sport as a platform for their dangerous worldview.
Published in The Guardian.