Politico reflects on Donald Trump’s time with Affliction MMA

With what has been perhaps the most unpredictable, unstable, concerning and outright confusing election in modern American history coming up soon, it’s only reasonable that certain aspects of the past of each candidate be brought out into the mainstream. And now, one of the most visible political outlets in the country is looking back on the involvement of businessman Donald Trump in the now-defunct and also highly controversial MMA promotion, Affliction.

Courtesy of Michael Crowley at Politico.com, we get a comprehensive look at how Trump went from being involved in boxing to shifting his attention and ambitions into MMA, and the cloudy history surrounding much of the claims made. Despite his support for the UFC and hosting their events in Atlantic City in trying times (for which Dana White remains very grateful), Trump eventually met with Affliction as they ventured to start their own fight organization and began to promote events with the hottest free agent on the planet, Fedor Emilianenko. Seeing that the appeal in boxing wasn’t as fresh as it used to be and seeing that MMA was on the rise, he seized the opportunity to join the team.

Despite Trump’s time around the sport, he either succumbed to the grandiose hyperbole he’s known for or outright didn’t really understand what he was watching:

“It’s sort of like, you just — somebody dies!” Trump told radio host Howard Stern in July 2008. “I’ve never seen anything like it. And it’s terrible … It’s the gladiator. It’s not like, ‘Oh, how are the judges voting?’ OK? It’s like, you know, somebody just — succumbs.”

Also interesting and truly the main focus of the feature are the contradictions within Trump’s claims regarding his relationship with prominent Russian officials – especially as it relates to meeting Vladimir Putin. All of this adds a wrinkle to the working relationship to Trump.

Adding to Fedor’s mystique was his friendship with Putin, who enhanced his own sportsman’s image through numerous public appearances alongside the storied fighter. (One memorable 2007 dinner also featured the kick boxer and action star Jean-Claude Van Damme, along with Putin’s friend and political ally, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.) When Putin ran for president in 2012, Fedor campaigned for him. Soon after, Putin named Fedor — who spent two years as a firefighter in the Russian military — to a presidential sports and fitness council. And when Fedor announced a comeback last year after three years of retirement, he said Putin called to wish him luck.

Another interesting item of note is the claim Donald Trump Jr. made regarding his father’s company investing in Affliction, or whether or not they actually put any money at all.

The piece covers other items such as the M-1 reality show that Trump claimed was to be filmed and never came to fruition (dubbed “Fighting Fedor“, an Ultimate Fighter-type show where the winner fought Fedor), as well as the dealings with Vadim Finkelchtein and the eventual demise of the organization.

Perhaps it’s also somewhat poetic that the MMA world would cross paths with Trump later as former UFC executive Steven Cheung left the UFC to work for the Trump campaign.