UFC is the biggest mixed martial arts promotion on the planet, and one where fans are known to give a warm welcome to former President Donald Trump.
Thus, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had the good sense to stay away from Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, where UFC 297 was being held Saturday.
Fans let him know what they thought of him anyway — and while the reception he got could be described as “icy” or “heated,” depending on how you wanted to spin it, much like Toronto, it definitely wasn’t “warm.”
In a series of clips uploaded to social media before the main event between Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis, the audience could be heard chanting “F*** Trudeau” in unison.
A bit of background: Strickland, an outspoken conservative, had a kerfuffle with a Canadian reporter over comments the fighter had made regarding the LGBT community several years back during a media briefing on Friday.
The back-and-forth between Strickland and the reporter, to be fair, was not exactly “Firing Line” material.
“You’re a weak f***ing man,” the UFC champ told the journalist during a back-and-forth about their views on LGBT issues. “You’re part of the f***ing problem. You elected Justin Trudeau.”
“Like, when he seized the bank accounts — like, you’re just f***ing pathetic,” he continued, referring to Trudeau’s response to the 2022 “Freedom Convoy” truckers protests.
“The fact that you have no f***ing backbone as he shut down your f***ing country and seized bank accounts, you ask me some stupid s*** like that?” Strickland said.
Do you watch UFC matches?
“Go f*** yourself. Move the f*** on, man. F***ing coward.”
Succinct and gets the message across, although Strickland loses points for suggesting an anatomical impossibility.
Anyhow, the media was on one side of this verbal sparring match. Mediaite’s headline: “UFC Champion Goes on Deranged, Expletive-Filled Rant When Asked About Gay People: ‘GO F*** YOURSELF’”
The article itself didn’t elucidate Canadians’ multitudinous frustrations with 1) Trudeau and 2) a lapdog media that treats him with even softer kid gloves than the American establishment press treats our president. (This is astounding in and of itself, because both leaders seem to function — if you can even call it that — on the same level mentally, yet Trudeau is only 52. What’s his excuse?)
Anyway, you can imagine the crowd at Scotiabank Arena really gave it to the “deranged” Strickland on Saturday, letting him know that this kind of rant in no way represented how they felt, and he … oh wait, no, they let the world know he felt exactly how they felt about Trudeau, too.
WARNING: The following posts contain graphic language that some viewers will find offensive.
❗🔥🇨🇦 – “F*ck Trudeau” chants break out at UFC 297.@JustinTrudeau 🤷🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/unfeRlD1gZ
— 🔥🗞The Informant (@theinformantofc) January 21, 2024
Even NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast — she of “Let’s go Brandon” fame — couldn’t mix up or bowdlerize that one, were she given the chance.
Podcaster Joe Rogan — who was doing a “fight companion” commentary simulcast on Spotify — was pleasantly surprised by the chant.
“They’re yelling, ‘F*** Trudeau,’” Rogan said, before imploring our northern neighbors: “Canada, get your s*** together! Come back. Come back to what you used to be.”
Joe Rogan reacts to Toronto UFC crowd chanting “F*ck Trudeau”
Epic. pic.twitter.com/Y7RiGLd0Zj
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) January 21, 2024
Alas, Strickland didn’t win the fight — but that’s not what most people are going to take away from UFC 297.
Now, thanks to the wonders of the parliamentary system of government, Canada can get its, ahem, stuff together anytime it so chooses if there’s a motion of no confidence in Parliament or the governor general dissolves the body at the behest of the prime minister.
Since that won’t realistically happen, however, we can next expect Trudeau to face the voters in October 2025. Early polling doesn’t look good for Justin, and Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has been getting decent press of late.
That said, 22 months is a long way off — but judging from the reaction from the gathering of “peoplekind” (to use Trudeau’s term) at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday, he might be in real trouble.
