10. Conclusion
The answer to the research question that opened this piece: sportswashing, as the literature describes it, presupposes an actor seeking legitimacy before an external or international audience. The Trump-UFC case shows a domestic variation of this instrument, in which the target is not international opinion but a specific and measurable segment of the electorate itself, and in which the transmission mechanism is less the symbolism of sport itself and more the access to the alternative media infrastructure that this sport, and the figures associated with it, managed to build. The three hypotheses tested in this piece do not compete in a mutually exclusive way: genuine personal affinity between Trump and the UFC ecosystem (H2) provided the foundation on which the campaign built a calculated amplification (H1), transmitted through the channel that actually moved the needle, access to a network of alternative media that already concentrated the audience the campaign needed to reach (H3).
The contribution of this piece was to reconstruct this alliance with a verified timeline, to correct figures that circulated imprecisely in popular coverage of the case, and to test three competing explanations rather than assuming the most cited one to be self-evident. The best-supported explanation is not the simplest one ("Trump washed his image with the UFC's shine"), it is more structural: a young electorate that has already migrated to a media ecosystem that traditional politics does not reach, and a campaign that knew, with the help of genuine allies within that ecosystem, how to get there first.
This leaves a question that this piece does not resolve and that future studies should pursue: if the real mechanism is access to alternative media, not sport as symbol, what explains the choice of the UFC specifically, rather than any other young male media hub? The most likely answer, this piece suggests without being able to prove it, is that sport still matters as the one space where a physical, real, unscripted gesture (a knockout, a dance, a belt handed over) can be filmed, made viral, and replayed in a way that no political speech can replicate.
References
- Boykoff, Jules. 2022. Toward a Theory of Sportswashing: Mega-Events, Soft Power, and Political Conflict. Sociology of Sport Journal 39 (3): 342-351.
- Boykoff, Jules. 2023. The 1936 Berlin Olympics: Race, Power, and Sportswashing. Champaign: Common Ground Research Networks.
- Chehabi, Houchang E. 2001. Sport and Politics in the Middle East: A Review of the Literature. International Journal of Middle East Studies 33 (3): 350-369.
- Grix, Jonathan, Adam Dinsmore, e Paul Michael Brannagan. 2023. Unpacking the Politics of 'Sportswashing': It Takes Two to Tango. Politics: 1-22.
- Grix, Jonathan, Paul Michael Brannagan, e Barrie Houlihan. 2019. Sports Mega-Events and Soft Power: Constructing Legitimacy Through Sport. Political Studies Review 17 (2): 105-118.
- Mattern, Janice Bially. 2005. Why 'Soft Power' Isn't So Soft: Representational Force and the Sociolinguistic Construction of Attraction in World Politics. Millennium: Journal of International Studies 33 (3): 583-612.
- Murray, Stuart. 2012. The Two Halves of Sports-Diplomacy. Diplomatic History 36 (3): 582-588.
- Nye, Joseph S. 2004. Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. New York: PublicAffairs.
- Skey, Michael. 2022. Sportswashing, Media, and Reputation Management. Media, Culture & Society 44 (5): 823-840.
- Latterly. 2020. UFC Marketing Strategy: Fueling PPV Buys and Fight Night Buzz. latterly.org.
- Pew Research Center. 2024. Americans' Social Media News Fact Sheet: News Influencers. Pew Research Center & Knight Foundation.
- Wright, Jasmine. 2024. 'Broken Since the Beginning': What Went Wrong Inside the Harris Campaign. NOTUS, 9 de novembro.
- Politico. 2024. How Biden's Vulnerabilities Led to a Bloodbath for Harris. Politico, 6 de novembro.
- Sportico / Harris Poll. 2023. Fan Bases, Politics, and the LIV-PGA Divide. Sportico.
- ESPN. 2017. Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor: 4.3 Million Domestic PPV Buys, $600 Million Total Revenue.
- SI.com. 2022. Report: UFC Makes Over $1 Billion Per Year.
- UFC.com. Griffin-Bonnar: The Night That Changed Everything.
- Sportskeeda. 2024. A Timeline of UFC's Ownership Changes, from the Fertittas to Zuffa and Beyond.
- Fox News. 2024. Jon Jones Calls UFC 309 'Biggest Moment of My Life' After KO, Doing Trump's Dance Move.
- CNN. 2024. Joe Rogan's Endorsement of Trump, Explained.
- MMAmania. 2024. Dana White Delivers Fiery Trump Victory Speech, Credits 'Mighty and Powerful' Joe Rogan.