After entering Saturday night’s UFC 316 event in Newark, New Jersey, to rapturous applause, President Donald Trump shook hands with several fellow attendees, including former boxer Mike Tyson and podcaster Joe Rogan… but snubbed a young boy who asked for a handshake.
The footage,
posted to Truth Social
by Trump himself, shows the president walking into the venue alongside UFC CEO Dana White. As they enter the arena, Trump begins shaking people’s hands, eventually reaching a young boy and an adult male next to him. After shaking the older man’s hand, Trump moves down the line, skipping over the young boy, who has his hand out ready for a handshake. Instead, the youngster and several others in the front row are left hanging while Trump moves on to shake Tyson’s hand instead.
From there, the president greets commentator Jon Anik before enthusiastically embracing Joe Rogan with a hug and whispering in his ear.
The event features a Women’s Bantamweight Championship match between Julianna Peña and Kayla Harrison, with a Bantamweight Championship rematch between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley serving as the main event.
Trump is a semi-regular attendee at UFC events, having previously attended an event in Miami in April along with his now former adviser Elon Musk, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and FBI Director Kash Patel.
Shortly before his arrival at the match on Saturday, Trump
took to Truth Social
to criticize California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, telling his followers that if they can’t do their jobs in quelling ICE protests in the city, then the federal government will step in and solve the problem of riots and looters “the way it should be solved.”
Soon after, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt
confirmed
that the president had signed a memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to Los Angeles to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.”
Read more at The Daily Beast.
