Luke Thomas
@lukethomas
Combat sports analyst. Occasional learner.
If you want to see how intertwined the UFC brand is with Trump, this sign is visible at an event currently taking place in Serbia. Of note, Trump's not there nor was it ever suggested he'd be there. The audience just knows a great way to get the message to Trump is to send it at a UFC event.
If you’re not in the MMA bubble and you’re wondering what Josh Hokit is saying in his first interview after calling Michelle Obama a man at the UFC’s White House event, the answer is not contemplating remorse. This is just what MMA is now.
Another day in MMA: top bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov (cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov) posts this on social media.
Biked by today. It’s still up, but being torn down. If you zoom in you can see the cats ears portion of the claw are slowly but surely being dismantled.
Look at the color of the water they’re pumping out. It’s working a bit in the middle of the pool, but doesn’t seem like a lasting solution.
It’s not hyperbole. Went down here myself. That thing is as green as it gets.
Part of the reason why covering MMA without being an insane and evil person feels so difficult: look at what regular MMA media are posting about Josh Hokit after the outrage at his Michelle Obama comments.
OH MY GOD. Trump is trying to **bribe** senators to approve the $1.8 billion slush fund by CUTTING THEM IN ON THE MONEY. This would be “the total collapse of the constitutional order that our country is built on,” says Liz Oyer, the former pardon attorney for the DOJ:
DC friends! Come see @wkamaubell.bsky.social perform standup tomorrow night!
One of the first places Trump appeared post Jan 6 or during legal proceedings from the Jack Smith case were UFC events. The timing of his UFC appearances matches his legal troubles. If he's making the rounds now, he’s grasping for an image boost.
It has never been more important in my lifetime to support independent media than right now.
NEW: @patrickwyman.bsky.social has a history podcast not on great leaders, but more common folk. The theme for this season? World slavery: “Power is inseparable from labor. Power is inseparable from work. Slavery, studying it, what it tells us, is just how inseparable those two things are.”
(Almost) every week, I create a list of interesting stories or articles I read on a variety of topics. This week it's forever chemicals, Buffalo Bills stadium financing, why Hollywood should remake *bad* movies & thoughts on the male loneliness epidemic: lthomas.substack.com/p/what-i-rea...
This interview is now UNLOCKED and open to all. I asked Khan about the FTC before her time investigating UFC twice but electing to not take action. What, if anything, can we infer from that? Here's what she said:
Khan on gamers apologizing to her over her attempt to stop Microsoft purchasing Activision now that layoffs are here and prices have skyrocketed for Game Pass:
I spoke to the former head of the FTC behind click to cancel rules, the attempted blocking of Microsoft buying Activision & much more: antitrust hero @linamkhan.bsky.social (full interview out tomorrow!). In this clip, she discusses TKO trying to legislate in exemptions to the Ali Act. 1/2
NEW: I spoke to comedian @wkamaubell.bsky.social about why the Riyadh Comedy Festival resulted in so much controversy. “The reason why it’s a big deal is because their fans care. I think if it was only us snowflakes and social justice warriors, Bill Burr wouldn’t feel the need to address it.” 1/2
Here’s what you need to know about UFC White House: it’s two events, not one, and nothing about it is politically neutral. READ: open.substack.com/pub/lthomas/...
NEW: UFC White House is two events: a grandiose spectacle of historical MMA significance AND agitprop for an increasingly authoritarian government. It’s fine to just care about having good fights, but it’s also not a crime to notice this broader dual reality: lthomas.substack.com/p/ufc-white-...
Can a new crop of Dem leaders fix the party? My interview with Bernie Sanders- endorsed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social is live: - Restoring Dem party priorities - Gaza genocide - Medicare for All - DC home rule and the filibuster - RFK and the CDC + more. WATCH: open.substack.com/pub/lthomas/...
Is it bad for DC’s economy if Trump’s surge of police and National Guard kills foot traffic to essentially all DC neighborhoods where commerce is important?