Today's Poll Question: UFC...Sport or Spectacle?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
Get ready to vote on today's daily poll question at smerconish.com.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:05)
But first, Michael explains it for you right here.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:08)
Welcome to The Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:11)
For Independent Minds.

**Michael Smerconish** (0:14)
Hey gang, here is your Friday poll question for this 12th of June, 2026 Love this, and it is so on the news. UFC, Sport or Spectacle? UFC, Sport or Spectacle? I told a story yesterday. TC remembered some of the elements of it. It's been a long time, probably 20 years, that there was a day when I did a remote broadcast in Los Angeles, and my back-to-back in-studio guests were Ariana Huffington and Dana White. TC correctly remembered that Dana White was very accessible to us at the time because UFC was struggling, or maybe it was the precursor of UFC, but Dana was making his mark, but he was dealing with a lack of acceptance, epitomized by John McCain referring to this as human cockfighting.
That's what he said at the time, human cockfighting.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:19)
Yeah, and it was just frowned upon, and he was hustling. Dana White was hustling.

**Michael Smerconish** (1:23)
Totally.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:24)
Yes.

**Michael Smerconish** (1:24)
And I mean, like, look at him now.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:26)
I know.

**Michael Smerconish** (1:26)
Sunday night, something's going to happen that has never never happened in the 226-year history of the White House. A professional cage fight on the South Lawn, 200 yards from where the president sleeps, championship belts on the line, 75,000 people expected in person, millions more watching from home.
They're calling it UFC Freedom 250, and depending on your point of view, it's either the most exciting thing to happen to that address since the fireworks of 1814 are the most undignified use of the people's house in American history. Let's not make this a referendum on Trump, okay? I want to focus on UFC. It's got millions of fans, millions of fans. Is it sport or spectacle? I know you're saying, oh, it's a little bit of both. It's a little bit of both. Well, you got to pick one or the other.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:15)
The Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM.

**Michael Smerconish** (2:19)
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**SPEAKER_1** (3:46)
The Daily Poll Question at smerconish.com, a non-scientific social political question designed to spark broader discussions about current issues.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:54)
Get ready to cast your ballot and leave a rating and review of this podcast on your favorite podcast app.

**Michael Smerconish** (4:00)
UFC, it's not my thing. Okay, it's not my thing. I respect it. And I do look at it as sport. I really do. I mean, they train, they work hard. There's, you know, there's honest competition to it. They're athletes. If it's, if you're asking me, sport or spectacle, I'd say sport, a blood sport, but a sport.
I guess I'd be a bit of a hypocrite if I were condemning of this because I've always loved professional boxing. I've all, I tell the story about how in Trump 1.0, I find myself in the Oval Office with President Trump. You know, I've got the allotted 10 to 15 minutes. And one of the first things that he said to me is, if we met before, and I say to him, well, we have Mr. President, you wouldn't remember, but we met at a fight in Atlantic City in the late 80s, early 90s. I do remember it. It was, it was the Marla Maples era. She was beautiful. She was stunning. I took a picture of the two of them together on, you know, like a pocket Instamatic camera or something. Anyway, the point is, when I reference AC in that era, before he told me it was a shithole, because he did, he, meaning today, he said, well, he just launched into a whole string of Don King and Mike Tyson stories, and they were fabulous stories. They were. But all of my allotted time was chewed up in the conversation by Atlantic City in that era.