UFC 1 = APOLLO 11

Rubio Makes Bonkers Comparison to Trump’s Tacky UFC Event

To the secretary of state, cage fights with few rules have at least one thing in common with space travel.

Marco Rubio has made an earnest comparison between the founding of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the U.S. putting a man on the Moon.

The Secretary of State spoke at the State Department beside UFC CEO Dana White on Thursday, three days before the fight night on the White House South Lawn. In addition to promoting the event, the two signed an agreement allowing the department to use the mixed martial arts company for diplomatic purposes.

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Both the company, founded in 1993, and the U.S. were “audacious” at their beginnings, and that’s something that has continued to this day, Rubio said.

“When President Kennedy announced that we were going to put a man on the Moon and return them safely to the earth, no one thought that was possible, and we did it,” Rubio, 55, said.

“We are a nation founded on doing what no one else dared to do, and no one else aspired to do,” he continued. “And at some level, that’s what this whole company—what UFC has been.”

The UFC, Rubio went on, “truly is the United Nations of fighting.” Its fights, he claimed, are “educating Americans about cultures, societies all over the world.” Rubio then went further.

UFC events, which he and Trump have attended, were one of the “very few things left in our society—and I would say, in the world—that convenes us all," he said.

Under the memo Rubio and White signed, a State Department spokesperson told CNN they “will engage current and former athletes, coaches, and executives as mentors and cultural ambassadors to deliver overseas clinics, workshops, and training sessions that promote teamwork, leadership, and healthy lifestyles among youth.”

Additionally, they will “develop joint educational content using MMA to teach English and leadership skills, while coordinating on international UFC events to showcase American excellence alongside our US missions worldwide.”

The Daily Beast has also reached out for comment about the memo and Rubio’s Moon landing analogy.

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