A gaggle of UFC fighters aligned with former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro have discovered themselves within the highlight following this month’s assault of congress
On 8 January 2023, a sea of individuals dressed within the yellow and inexperienced that symbolizes Brazil’s flag descended on Brasília, the nation’s capital, to demand that the army overturn the presidential election.
Over the course of 4 hours, hundreds of far-right supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed all three branches of the nation’s authorities – Congress, the Supreme Courtroom, and the presidential palace – and wreaked havoc all through the enduring modernist structure.
The chaotic scenes had been harking back to the January 6 assault on the US Capitol, as crowds fueled by false claims of election fraud ransacked buildings, attacked law enforcement officials, and chanted pro-Bolsonaro slogans whereas demanding the elimination of newly-inaugurated president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Other than the rioters who swarmed the nation’s federal establishments, blended martial arts fighters had been amongst those that publicly celebrated Bolsonaro and the tried coup, together with one who competed on this previous weekend’s pay-per-view present in Brazil.
Deiveson Figueiredo, a former UFC champion who misplaced his flyweight title following a TKO loss within the co-main occasion of UFC 283 Saturday, was amongst these calling for a army coup towards Brazil’s elected authorities. A current investigation by BloodyElbow.com revealed that Figueiredo shared a sequence of pro-Bolsonaro posts on WhatsApp, together with a photograph that mentioned it was time to “Invade Brasília”.
“Both a free nation stays or [we] die for Brazil,” learn the put up.
A second put up shared by Figueiredo inspired rioters to “camp contained in the Congress” whereas a 3rd confirmed Bolsonaro being saluted by army generals together with a caption calling on the army to provoke a coup d’état towards the incumbent authorities.
Figueiredo’s staunch assist for Brazil’s controversial former president is shared by a plethora of Brazilian athletes, together with amongst native jiu-jitsu stars and UFC fighters. Over the previous few years, the far-right populist acquired endorsements from UFC champions akin to Anderson Silva, Rafael dos Anjos, Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, Cris Cyborg and Fabricio Werdum. He was additionally backed by the Gracie household, a outstanding martial arts clan credited for creating Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Bolsonaro, who served as Brazil’s president from 2019 by way of 2022, often rubbed shoulders with UFC fighters and even elevated some to outstanding political positions. Former UFC fighter and jiu-jitsu champion Renzo Gracie was named the Ambassador of Worldwide Tourism underneath Embratur, a department of Brazil’s Ministry of Tourism in 2019. The next month, Gracie posted a video threatening to choke French president Emmanuel Macron. Three years later, the Gracie household was embroiled in a scandal that noticed them allegedly obtain authorities payouts from a fund designated for Brazil’s poorest households in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Regardless of the movie star endorsements, Bolsonaro misplaced a run-off election to former president Lula in October 2022. He fled Brazil simply days earlier than his rival’s inauguration and landed in Orlando, Florida, the place he stayed in a trip residence owned by former UFC featherweight champion José Aldo. The previous president was reportedly there in the course of the riots on 8 January.
Aldo later defended his determination to host Bolsonaro in his residence, claiming it was merely a enterprise alternative.
“The nation is split. Everybody on the opposite facet will criticize me,” Aldo mentioned on the Circulate podcast, probably the most widespread podcasts in Brazil. “I wasn’t fascinated about that, although. There’s a very good facet and a foul facet to every thing you do in your life. The road is all the time crowded now. I’ve been getting so many messages from individuals who wish to keep on the home. I’m sorry, however some individuals simply suppose small. They haven't any eye for enterprise.”
The previous UFC champion, who can be allegedly concerned in a authorities handout scandal, now plans to place up a plaque in his residence that reads: The president of Brazil stayed right here.
MMA’s embrace of Bolsonaro is a part of an ongoing development of right-wing politicians and authoritarian leaders weaponizing the game for political acquire. A number of MMA fighters, together with legendary heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, have campaigned for Russian president Vladimir Putin, whereas different Russian fighters (together with a handful within the UFC) have publicly supported their nation’s invasion of Ukraine.
Elsewhere, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless dictator accused of numerous human rights abuses throughout his tenure on the helm of the Russian republic of Chechnya, based his personal MMA battle membership and now has a number of fighters affiliated with him competing within the UFC. Kadyrov, who has attended two UFC occasions up to now, has been recognized to make use of his health club as a type of repute laundering and as a software to distract from well-documented abuses akin to pressured disappearances, torture, and an ongoing purge of LGBTQ+ individuals in Chechnya.
On an organizational stage, the UFC has hosted occasions in partnership with the Abu Dhabi authorities within the United Arab Emirates, a rustic with a poor human rights report.
In the meantime, the UFC’s controversial president Dana White has additionally spent the previous few years selling former US president Donald Trump and providing him a distinctive platform to espouse his political ideology. This, in flip, has inspired different like-minded fighters to throw their weight behind different controversial leaders with out worry of repercussions. Due to this fact, it comes as no shock that numerous UFC fighters have publicly used their platforms to endorse Bolsonaro, in addition to to encourage assaults on democratic establishments.
But whereas the overwhelming majority of Brazil’s UFC fighters overwhelmingly assist Bolsonaro, there stay a handful of exceptions.
Two years in the past, UFC strawweight Virna Jandiroba used her post-fight victory speech to reward Brazil’s common healthcare system and take intention at Bolsonaro for his botched dealing with of the Covid-19 pandemic. The fighter additionally not too long ago shared a harrowing story about her grandfather, who served as a colonel throughout Brazil’s notorious army dictatorship and was persecuted for opposing the regime. This expertise with fascism outlined Jandiroba’s left-wing worldview, and made her weary of populist figures like Bolsonaro.
“Bolsonaro offends me and my individuals on a number of ranges,” Jandiroba mentioned throughout a current interview with Bloody Elbow. “It’s inconceivable for me to love him.”
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