Ultimate Strongmen

From Karim Zidan, award-winning investigative journalist who has spent the past decade embedded at the intersection of sports and politics, an “indispensable guide” (J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Prize) to the intertwined relationship between mixed martial arts, hypermasculinity, and authoritarianism.For those wondering why US politics feel more like an entertainment product than a democratic process, the alliance between Donald Trump and the UFC offers a crucial explanation. Trump didn’t just adopt the aesthetics of the UFC—he weaponized them to reshape political discourse, rally a new base, and redefine what it means to be a “strong” leader. It has helped shift the Overton window on acceptable political behavior, turning trash talk, and open hostility into presidential policy. Even for those who don’t care about sports, this shift matters: when politics becomes a bloodsport, democracy suffers a critical blow. But beyond the pro league, mixed martial arts writ large has itself helped lay the foundation for a countercultural movement—one that has evolved into the reactionary, conspiracy-fueled ecosystem the sport embodies today. From conservative pundits like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens; to influencers like Joe Rogan, and self-styled misogynists like Andrew Tate; to authoritarian backers like the Saudi and Emirati royal families; and even recent public support from the likes of practitioners Mark Zuckerberg, MMA has become synonymous with the “strongman”—an archetype of masculine domination, authoritarian culture, right-wing ideology, and state-sanctioned violence. The Ultimate Strongmen traces how MMA has become a powerful tool for political agendas, propaganda, and control, illuminating the wide-ranging impacts of MMA on our political moment. Through exclusive interviews, narrative storytelling, and in-depth reporting, Karim Zidan reveals how Donald Trump’s alliance with the UFC, as well as MMA’s emergence as a right-wing counter-culture ecosystem, isn’t just a footnote in American politics—it has fundamentally reshaped it.