Trump and some of his cabinet members attend UFC fight in Miami

US President Donald Trump, some of his Cabinet members and his adviser Elon Musk sat ringside in Miami late Saturday night at the Ultimate Fighting Championship event -- a spectacle of violence, throbbing music and cheering crowds that the president has long admired.

It's the second UFC event that Trump has attended since he was elected for a second time in November, and the first of his presidency. Unlike World Wrestling Entertainment events, UFC matches aren't staged.

Trump has been a fan of UFC fights for years. He attended one in late 2019 in New York City during his first presidency. And he brought the CEO of UFC, Dana White, onstage to speak during his victory speech on election night in 2024.

But the scene Saturday was emblematic of a president who is increasingly emboldened, brazen and encouraging of displays of force to carry out his agenda, particularly on immigration and crime.

Trump and two of his older children walked into the Kaseya Center to the booming sounds of the Kid Rock song "American Bad Ass" and to sustained, thunderous applause from the crowd. He sat next to Musk, who had brought one of his 14 children. They sat with the FBI director, Kash Patel; Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a former senator from Florida; the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard; and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife, actress Cheryl Hines. Also in the Trump entourage was Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

When Trump first arrived, he tried to shake Kennedy's hand; Kennedy was looking in the other direction. Trump then walked past the outstretched hand of Hines, moving his gaze past her entirely despite appearing to see her.

Hines held up her hand in confusion and looked at her husband. Kennedy brought Hines over to say hello to Trump a few moments later, and they spoke cordially, but the apparent snub had already ricocheted across social media.

After the first two fights, the winners scaled the octagonal fence around the ring and opened their arms to the crowd like gladiators. Trump pointed at them and smiled approvingly. Musk reposted on X, the social media site he owns, video of a brutal punch thrown by California-born Dominick Reyes against Nikita Krylov, a Ukrainian fighter, that quickly ended their bout, the first of the night that Trump witnessed.

Reyes posed for photos with Trump outside the ring after his victory.

Since his first Republican presidential campaign in 2016, Trump has incorporated some of the pageantry of wrestling and UFC into his rallies, from playlists to dramatic stage entrances. Trump's 2024 campaign made expansive use of his decades of hosting professional wrestling events and UFC events as a casino owner, and the adoration many of the fans have for him.

Saturday night was a glimpse into the cultural and pro-Trump ecosystem that helped vault Trump back into office. Joe Rogan, the wildly popular Texas-based podcaster who conducted an hourslong interview with Trump at the end of the 2024 campaign, sat near Trump.

Flying aboard Air Force One for a brief flight from Palm Beach, Florida, to Miami before the fight, Trump connected attending a fight to a week of trade fights that sent financial markets spiraling.

"So we're going to the fight," Trump said. "We have lots of fights going around the world, and I think we have a lot of good news coming soon about some of those fights, and we'll see how it goes. But it's been a it's been an interesting weekend. I think we have some pretty good news coming on some of the conflicts."