Musk suggests that Trump let the public consider who should lead the Treasury Department

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump takes part in the UFC’s heavyweight championship clash at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, combining two things close to his heart: tough fights inside the octagon and New York City.

After a one-year delay, Stipe Miocic gets the chance for a third heavyweight championship stint when he fights current master Jon Jones at UFC 309.

Trump is a longtime UFC enthusiast and often attends big fights. He made promotes hypermasculine tones a signature of his recent successful campaign for the White House – as he sought to further widen the gap male voters between himself and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump and his top supporters embraced alpha-male expressions, often punctuating them with vulgar and demeaning language.

During the campaign, Trump made frequent appearances on podcasts, gaming platforms and with key supporters who described a vote for Trump as a way to demonstrate true manliness. Trump also spent three hours recording a podcast with Joe Rogan, who himself has spoken about hypermasculinity. Harris declined to make a similar appearance with Rogan, citing scheduling conflicts.

A return to Madison Square Garden means revisit the place where a comedian caused an uproar at a Trump rally last month by comparing Puerto Rico to a “floating island of trash.” Still, Trump continues to enjoy visits to New York, where he lived for decades before moving to his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump boarded his plane for the flight to New York accompanied by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services under his new administration begins Jan. 20.

Except for a day trip to Washington this week to meet with the president for nearly two hours Joe Bidenand separately addresses House Republicans, Trump has spent his time since his Election day victory at Mar-a-Lago. The club has it held galas and conservative events throughout the week.

Trump has been close to UFC president Dana White for more than two decades.

White hosted a UFC fight in 2001 at the Trump Taj Mahal, a former casino hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Trump has frequently attended UFC fights since — including during his 2024 campaign. Trump has appeared in fights for recently with famous followedincluding White, musician Kid Rock and former Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson.

In 2018, during Trump’s first term, he and White appeared in a UFC video in which the then-president was called “Combatant In Chief.”

As Trump has strengthened his grip on the national Republican Party over the past nearly decade, White’s personal political profile has grown exponentially. White spoke at the 2016 and 2020 Republican conventions, and then party gathered in Milwaukee in July last year. He also addressed the crowd at Trump’s victory party in Florida in the wee hours of the morning after Election Day.

“That’s what happens when the machine comes after you,” White then said. “What you’ve seen over the last several years, it looks like this: couldn’t stop him. He keeps moving forward. He doesn’t stop.”