Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday likened the upcoming UFC fight on the White House lawn to the spirit of the moon landing. Rubio and UFC CEO Dana White signed a memorandum of agreement on sports diplomacy. <\/p>\n
SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO: this is an exciting, first of all, it’ll be an exciting weekend, but an exciting opportunity to sign this. It’s totally logical for us to do it. I want to make a couple points. People may ask, well, why UFC? We had this deal with the NFL too, but why UFC? So I have a couple reasons why I think it’s very powerful. Here’s the first. The first is America, and the ideal behind America is the impossible. That someone tells you you can’t do that, or that’s never going to happen. The whole idea of America is audacious. The very idea that America, that you could have a country where, founded on the principle that your rights come not from your government or from your leaders, your rights come from your creator, was an audacious idea. No one else believed that at the world at that time. And that’s the foundation. But then beyond that, everything we’ve done since then as a nation, time and again, how can you achieve some of the things? You know, we’re going to put a man on the moon. When President Kennedy announced that we were going to put a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth, no one thought that was possible, and we did it. We are a nation founded on doing what no one else dared to do and no one else aspired to do. And at some level, that’s what this whole company, what UFC, has been. You see, mixed martial arts is not new. It’s been around now for about 30 years, I would say, maybe 35. But there were no rules. There was no structure. I remember the early fights. I used to watch them back in the day, and you could get like a 170-pound Brazilian jiu-jitsu guy fighting a 250-pound heavyweight who was a striker. And I was like, how did he put this? The rules weren’t clarified? And Dana and the people around him had a vision, and that is to create a structure around this company, to give it rules, to define it by weight class, to structure the events, and it attracted some of the best athletes in the world. And what you’ve built now is this global company that not so long ago would have seemed impossible. Back in the day when boxing commissions, that’s what they’re called, or athletic commissions were a little bit reluctant to give you permits to stage these fights or put on these events, or when no one knew what it was, you were able to plow through that. And today, you have one of the most recognizable American sports brands on the planet. And in and of itself, I think it reflects so much the American spirit is reflected in this American company. Here’s the second point. It truly is the United Nations of fighting. If you think about the number of countries that are represented, and I think that roster will continue to grow, Lawrence, I really do. I think the number of people and champions you’re going to get from around the world will continue to be added. And I can tell you this is true, and I can tell you about your global reach because the president, and I have another job and spend a lot of time at the White House, the number of foreign leaders that want to come to this is unbelievable. It’s to the point where we may have a diplomatic crisis because it’s like, you know, we can’t bring everybody. And so they follow, and some of them don’t even have a fighter in the fight from their country. They just want to come because they are fans of the sport and they follow it. But to be honest with you, some of the countries that are represented in these fights, most Americans, because it’s not their job to track this, have never heard of that country in their life. I’ve never heard about their country. I’ve never heard about that person or where they came from until they saw a fighter from that nation step into the ring. And between that and the bios that sometimes come with the profiles leading up to the fight, it is also educating Americans about cultures, societies all over the world. The third is the power of convening. You know, we have very few things left in our society, and I would say in the world, that convenes us all. We are so divided by so many different things. You know, we get our news from different places. We follow different accounts online. We do everything separate from one another in this country, and I would say increasingly around the world. We are so polarized. There are only a handful of things that bring people together in one place at one time, united by their interest in one thing. And we need more of those. We need more of those forums and those settings in which you can bring people together to enjoy something together and find something in common. And if you’ve been to UFC fights, and I’ve been to many, and you look into the crowd, I mean, the crowd is as diverse as you can imagine. And I’m not talking about ethnic background. I’m talking about economic background. I’m talking about social background. I’m talking about geographic. This is one of those few things we have left in our country, and I would say in the world, that brings so many people from so many different places, so many different backgrounds, and so many different points of view together for a few hours to enjoy one thing in common. And the bonding power of that is incredible. And it’s something we want to share with the world, which is why I’m making this toward diplomacy such an important agreement we’re going to sign today. The last point I would make is it is my view, and I am very impressed by a man who is 6’9 or 6’10 that can run like a gazelle and dunk a basketball, although if you’re 6’10, I mean, you know, the rim is only 10 feet tall, so you’re more than halfway there. But I think NBA players are incredible athletes. I always say that there are plenty of people in the NBA that could play in the NFL, and I love the NFL, but I don’t think there are very many people in the NFL that could play in the NBA. But it is my personal view, my personal view, that some of, if not the greatest fighters, the greatest athletes in the world are the men and women on your roster, because it doesn’t just involve endurance and strength. It involves physical courage. It involves the ability to fight through pain. In fact, we were, was it in Miami a few weeks ago? We were watching one of the fights, and I don’t want to call anybody out, but I think the guy, did he tear his ACL in that second, the last fight? His knee was hurt. Like, he would not have made it to that second round. And he scored in the last 30 seconds a knockout. You think about the courage, like, if I tear my ACL, like, I’m done, right? Most people, like, you tear your ACL or you blow out your knee. He blew out his knee. You’re done. And this guy went another two and a half minutes with a blown-out knee and scored a last-second knockout. Because he probably doesn’t even make it out of the corner in the second round, because, you know, he’s in danger with a lame leg like that. Think about the courage that that takes. Think about how inspiring that is for the crowd to see something like that. It speaks to the human spirit. And you very rarely get to see that anymore in many of the sports.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
“What they’ve built out there is phenomenal. We’ll never see it again,” Rubio said. “Although, the president’s threatening to leave it permanently,” Rubio added. “Maybe we’ll just host weekly fights between people in politics and settle our scores that way.” <\/p>\n
\nHILARIOUS: Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the UFC Freedom 250: We’re never going to see anything like that again, guys, ever\u2026 What they’ve built out there is phenomenal. We’ll never see it again. Although, the president’s threatening to leave it permanently\u2026 Maybe we’ll\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/fJaixliTpv<\/a><\/p>\n
– RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) June 11, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n