Donald Trump booed as he attends UFC match in New York

Ellena Cruse3 November 2019

Donald Trump was greeted with loud boos as he attended a UFC match in New York.

Mr Trump, walking into Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, waved at the crowd with a grimacing smile on his face.

But the US president also received some cheers as he entered the arena with sons Donald Jr and Eric, as well as several congressional Republicans.

And the overall reception was nonetheless warmer than the one he received at a baseball game in Washington last week, in which he faced huge chants of "Lock him up!"

Donald Trump waves to the crowd as he attends the UFC at Madison Square Garden in New York City
AFP via Getty Images

Mr Trump has long-standing ties with the UFC and sat a few rows from the cage for the mixed martial arts (MMA) card.

When one of the fighters, Gregor Gillespie, was briefly knocked unconscious by a roundhouse kick, Mr Trump watched intently but did not visibly react. But he clapped when Gillespie was able to return to his feet.

The president received a mixed reaction at the UFC match
AFP via Getty Images

Trump frequently waved to the crowd through the night, which was headlined by a bout between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masdival.

Masvidal won the fight after the match was stopped and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson awarded him the championship belt.

Mr Trump's ties with UFC head Dana White date back to 2001, when he hosted a fight at his now-defunct Trump Taj Mahal hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Mr White, who has said he would "never say anything negative about Donald Trump," spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Taking to Twitter, the president complained about being “treated very badly” by New York’s political leaders.

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