UFC contender Michael Chandler said that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg should be welcomed into the mix of Donald Trump supporters instead of being shunned.
Chandler was asked during a panel discussion on the Patrick Bet-David podcast what kind of influence UFC fighters have on a person of Zuckerberg’s stature.
“Is there s*** talking? Are you talking to him, what influence does the UFC have on him?” Bet-David asked.
Chandler noted that he met the Meta CEO at a UFC event and said that while he and Zuckerberg are on “different ends” of the political spectrum, he still believes in catching bees with honey as opposed to vinegar.
‘That testosterone started going through the roof … he realized what being a sovereign individual means.’
“There should be a little bit of accountability, right, but also a guy like Zuck has a very, very heavy hand. A guy like Zuck has a lot of influence,” Chandler noted, implying he could be helpful in a push for greater freedom.
In terms of Zuckerberg possibly becoming more conservative, Chandler chalked it up to Zuckerberg’s recent obsession with jiujitsu and mixed martial arts training.
“I just think Zuck started training, that testosterone started going through the roof … he realized what being a sovereign individual means. You don’t know how not sovereign you are until you stand in front of a man, and he beats the crap out of you, and then you pick yourself back up and you do it again, or you get choked out and then you got to get up and do it again.”
Chandler continued, “I think Zuck has started to realize that, and now he’s starting to lean over [to the right] a little bit.”
Former UFC title holder Jorge Masvidal was asked to chime in on the panel as well and explained that martial arts training does wonders for the ego.
“Whether you win or lose, you kind of walk into a room, and you don’t feel you have an ego as much, and I think that definitely helps and like Mike was saying, once you get your butt kicked a couple times, it really makes you humble, and it makes you see life a different way.”
Masvidal added that money in the bank doesn’t mean anything when “someone’s on top of your face punching your teeth in.”
“I think [Zuckerberg] training has just brought [out] that side of him, and also I think how rapidly the country was deteriorating was probably the biggest thing he saw.”
Zuckerberg has famously won a gold medal and a silver medal in jiujitsu tournaments in Silicon Valley in May 2023 and is on record telling comedian Joe Rogan in 2020 that he has experience in tae kwon do, karate, and judo.
For a short time, Zuckerberg and Elon Musk had agreed to a fight in a UFC cage causing the Facebook boss to take lessons with prominent UFC fighters. The fight has not been talked about in 2024, however.
In terms of the political leanings of the UFC fighters, Chandler said that when fighters are locked in a cage with nobody to help, they tend to take a “different mentality.”
Chandler also joked that he thought UFC star Conor McGregor was “voting for Kamala [Harris]” and that’s why their fight was canceled.
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Fearless, Ufc, Mark zuckerberg, Election, Sports
