Suddenly Donald Trump appeared and the crowd went into euphoria. An explosion of emotions at the UFC gala at Madison Square Garden

The gala in Manhattan has ended a few minutes after midnight US time, so it formally also touched upon an absolutely special day. Exactly that November 12, 1993 The first sporting event under the UFC brand took place, and the winner was Royce Graciewho also took an active part in promoting this sports celebration for fans of mixed martial arts.

The event started at 6:00 p.m. local time and the arena quickly began to fill with fans, although also in America the scenario is exactly the same as we know from galas in Poland and other places in the world. Fans did not immediately sit in the stands in large numbers, but their number increased as the importance of each match increased.

The 31-year-old Pole fulfilled his dream of playing in… Madison SquareGarden and he knew that it was worth telling the gathered fans about it during a short interview straight from the octagon, immediately after the end of the fight. After these words, the “Chinese” received great applause and could even more feel the atmosphere of the “boxing mecca”, called by others – among others, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, as stated in an interview for Interiaalso a mecca for other combat sports.

When the decisive confrontations occurred, the facility was almost filled to capacity. The doping was most directed at the American Matt Frevola and one hero from both of the most important fights of the gala: Tom Asphinall and Alex Pereira. However, it is worth paying attention to earlier events during the fight Azera Nazim Sadykov with Russian Vyacheslav Borshchev. The fighters didn’t really arouse much emotion as they made their way from the locker room to the cage, but after the first round, which was full of fireworks, the crowd stood up and thanked them with thunderous applause.

At exactly 10 p.m., the athletes suddenly faded into the background, because suddenly, in a lane that until then had only been traversed by athletes, Donald Trump emerged. The former president of the United States is a New Yorker, this is his city, and not far from MSG is his impressive 202-meter skyscraper located on Fifth Avenue. The 77-year-old is currently in a lot of trouble, fighting the accusation in a New York court falsifying property declarationsand yet it was covered not so long ago an investigation into the storming of the Capitol by his supporters. According to many, he is now disgraced as a politician and should never hold the highest positions in the state again. However, Trump also has staunch supporters and – as can be seen from new ABC News poll – he is supported by slightly fewer US citizens than the current incumbent Joe Biden.

And the said Trump, cheering to the crowd, began to direct his steps towards the octagon. He was joined by a conservative recently fired from Fox News journalist and writer Tucker Carlson and singer Kid Rock, who is a staunch supporter of the Republican Party. The big four, although comments quickly appeared on Twitter talking more about the horsemen of the Apocalypse, were rounded out by the head of the UFC, Dana White.

The most striking thing was how spontaneously – although of course not all – the crowd reacted to the sight of Trump. In fact, you could hazard an opinion, without examining the decibel level, that evening no one had a warmer welcome. And immediately after the storm of applause, there was a loud chanting: “USA, USA”. Trump, shown in the camera’s eye, was clearly pleased, greeted his supporters with a raised hand, and posed for souvenir photos with some of them.

The topic of the former first US citizen came back every time his figure was shown on a huge screen suspended in the middle of the roof, but the end of the gala was already one of its most important sports heroes.

Firstly Englishman Tom Aspinalla fighter with a Polish wife, knocked him out in spectacular style Russian Sergei Pavlovich. Already in the first round, the 30-year-old targeted his opponent with a blow to the temple, which completely stunned him. Pawlowicz fell to the octagon mat, and Aspinall jumped in and took him out a series of successive blows to the head that fell with impunity without any response. The referee had to make the only right decision and stopped the fight, which had a temporary penalty at stake UFC heavyweight title.

For dessert, fans could enjoy the fight of the evening, which initially had a slight indication of having a very bad fight Jiri Prochazka’s wacky style. The Czech began to dominate Aleks Pereira, former defeater of Jan Błachowicz, in boxing terms and had him cornered and even “connected”, but the Brazilian turned the tables in a fantastic way. In the second round, he countered Prochazka at the net and then completed the destruction. Won by technical knockout gave the Brazilian the full title UFC light heavyweight champion.