Boxing News 2016: Top Rank Chief Bob Arum Says UFC Fans Are Donald Trump Supporters
Top Rank Promotions chief Bob Arum has made a bold claim regarding fans of the UFC and mixed martial arts.
The 84-year old promoter has always been vocal about his biased opinions against MMA as a sport. In a 2009 report by Dashiell Bennett for Dead Spin, Arum described fans of the sport as a "bunch of skinhead white guys." He also went on to lambast mixed martial arts as a whole, where he pointed out how fighters would "roll around like homosexuals on the ground."
"It is not a sport that shows great, great talent," he said.
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In another 2011 report by Steve Cofield for Yahoo! Sports, Arum ripped on the first UFC event broadcasted over FOX Sports, a title fight between heavyweights Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos.
Dos Santos was able to score a quick knockout victory over Velasquez, subsequently earning him the title. According to Arum, the UFC "got buried" after making only drawing an estimated total of 5.7 million viewers.
"They thought they would hurt us. Instead they got hurt because they got buried," Arum said. "But I think the fact they're just on for an hour helps us."
Recently, Arum one again offered his take on the UFC and its fans. This time around, he went on to classify them in terms of the United States presidential candidates for the upcoming election.
Speaking to Fight Hub TV, Arum says fans of the sport also supports controversial candidate Donald Trump.
"Well the UFC, they've done a great job promoting but one thing I've said, and I'll say again, I'll say it straight out - the fans of the UFC are Donald Trump supporters," Arum said. "The fans of boxing support Hillary [Clinton], Bernie [Sanders], and maybe John Kasich, so there's a difference."
Arum also pointed out and went back to his 2009 statement, saying that the UFC fans who support Trump are "white males" who are "desperately afraid" that the US will be a non-white majority country in 20 years.
