Make Rome fall again
Trump’s UFC spectacle turns America’s birthday into a bloodsport metaphor for imperial decline
Studying archaeology, alongside Greek and Roman Civilization, for my bachelor’s degree has given me a pessimistic outlook on the world. At least that’s what my dad told me in June 2001 on a drive from Istanbul to Dublin. Yet he’s to blame for my studying the science after bringing me to see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in the cinema. The romantic career turned quickly into something different, when learning about ‘panem et circenses’ [bread and circuses] and standing knee deep in medieval human waste in the middle of an Irish bog.
As much as I enjoyed the classical world and knowing that the best finds usually emerged from cess pits, when I began covering sports the transition into the cess pit that is mixed martial arts (MMA), and especially the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), was a transition too far. For those offended by my words, then combat sports are not for you.
For 20 years I boxed up to international level, winning many medals, titles, and sharing the ring with legends like Wayne McCullough (Olympic silver medallist and pro world champ), Jake Matlala, Istvan Kovacs, and Naseem Hamed (all pro world champs). Punching someone in the head while they’re on the ground, or writhing about in tight shorts on the back of another person while trying to choke them, is not my cup of tea. I respect MMA fighters and coaches, but not their sport. Then again, seeing men beat up women for Olympic medals and ‘influencers’ beating up pension-age ex-boxers has stolen my fate in modern boxing too.
So, when I heard that there would be a UFC ‘event’ held at the White House, the Washington version, my archaeological senses took over and I immediately went back to the collapse of the Roman Empire. UFC Freedom 250 is the most appropriate event to celebrate 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, because it is another step down the path to self-immolation of the US Empire.
As we close in on the bread and circuses in Washington D.C., a reminder of the signs that Rome’s time as a global power was ending.
- Debasing the currency: Reducing the amount of silver in coinage while increasing the amount of coins until they became worthless and debt levels soared.
- Self-serving government: From governing for the people and republic, senators and civil servants increasingly went into politics to enrich themselves, their friends, their backers, and their families.
- Outsourcing military: Instead of producing and providing for their armies, they put it all out to tender, without corruption checks. Not to mention hiring mercenaries.
- Infrastructure failure: Roads, bridges, ports, aqueducts etc were all neglected, with a focus on building follies and vanity projects.
- Populace disengages with civil life: Disillusioned, feeling unrepresented and ignored, the people turn away from trusted institutions. Not from apathy, but by choice. Increasing civil disobedience.
- Increased focus on bread and circuses: Keeping the plebs satisfied with bribes and/or entertainment became the norm. The more debased, outrageous, and insane the better.
- Divide to rule: The empire splits to manage it better, resulting in equal but different halves of the same entity. Externally, the entire structure looked weak to predators.
- Borders lose meaning: Security and stability are overlooked with occasional attempts by rulers to enforce rules of passage into and through the empire. But when it was generally accepted, it was too late, borders simply became lines on a map.
- It went bang, with a whimper: In 476 AD, Romulus Augustus was deposed and Odoacer simply informed Constantinople that the West no longer needed an emperor.
And there you have an annotated recap of how the Roman Empire fell. Can we see parallels with the US? Dollar debased, soaring debt levels, civil disobedience, belated attempts to secure the border, bridges collapsing and railways in disrepair? Big pharma reaping rewards from ‘zombifying’ citizens? The ‘circuses’ are coming hot and fast with a FIFA World Cup and Summer and Winter Olympic Games to come within the next decade. Yet, staging a UFC event on the White House lawn, not even Juvenal, who first used the term bread and circuses in 100 AD, could have expected that.
Think WWE wrestling with less class and more blood. Which is funny as it’s owned by the WME Group, which also owns the WWE. The WME Group is headed by Ari Emmanuel, brother of Democrat insider and former White House Chief of Staff and US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emmanuel. The UFC is a closed shop, a ‘promotion’ or company with a limited stable of fighters under contract who take on opponents in an octagon-shaped cage. Entertaining the mob is vital and the more blood spilled, the louder they bay!
The CEO of the promotion, Dana White, is a long-time friend of the US president and played no small part in helping Trump win in 2024. For White, money talks and politics are only important when they make him richer. However, Dana sees through geopolitical bluster and contracts Russian fighters, knowing that his audience simply want to see action.
Seven fights, thus far, have been confirmed for UFC Freedom 250 and while no Russian fighters are due to perform, there is a chance that lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan might be called up. While musical groups and artists have been forced to shy away from Trump-related ‘250’ celebrations, they are rolling out the talented country singer Zac Brown to sing the national anthem. Not since 2001 has the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ been sung live at a UFC event.
The event will be broadcast on Paramount+, which is part of Paramount Skydance, the company run by David Ellison. Ellison, son of Oracle billionaire, and friend of Benjamin Netanyahu, Larry, also heads up CBS and CBS News. David is a nepo baby supreme. Despite Daddy’s largesse in funding movies for him to act in, he flopped on screen before Larry’s cash set up Skydance Media. This company would go on to produce and finance superb big screen hits like ‘World War Z’ and ‘Mission Impossible – Fallout’. The Ellisons are heavily supportive of Trump, Israel, and making….money. If there were a better media partner for this event than the Ellisons, and metaphor for the end of empire, then I’d love hear it.
Hard to say, since I’ve not watched any UFC for a decade and before that a single full fight in 2007. I was back in Ireland on a working holiday from Croatia, ironing a shirt and watching Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic get knocked out. From what a good friend and colleague, who covers ‘fight sports’ for an Irish national newspaper told me “You’ve an unbeaten Georgian-Spaniard [Ilia Topuria] fighting a likeable Trump-supporting American [Justin Gaethje] topping the card, with the latter poised to ‘win’.”
When I asked why he emphasized ‘win’, my friend laughed and said “No comment.” He went on to talk about the Irish-American Sean O’Malley who is also on the show and the “controversial but entertaining Trump-loving Josh Hokit.” Hokit, unbeaten thus far in his UFC ‘career’, has been outspoken on trans issues and accused US basketball star Brittney Griner of being a man. ‘The Incredible Hok’, as he is nicknamed, previously said the same about former First Lady Michelle Obama.
The Griner comment came this January, the first UFC event to be broadcast by Paramount+, at ringside following a fight and drew “laughter and cheers” from the crowd, with his interviewer Joe Rogan joining in the mirth.
The more outrageous, shocking, insulting, debased, and violent UFC Freedom 250 will be, the higher the ratings for David Ellison, the better the reaction for President Trump, and the quicker the empire will collapse.
The sun sets on every empire. My years of study and work in archaeology and history proved that to me. The Ottomans, Austro-Hungarians, British, and many more in the modern era thought they knew how to beat the odds. But they all went the way of the Greeks, Incas, Romans, Macedonians, Aztecs, and Persians. Though none did it live on air, from the back garden of the presidential palace.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
