Despite Dana White and Donald Trump’s longstanding relationship since 2001, the UFC president has no clue who the ex-POTUS’s favorite fighter is. The 45th US president has named a few of his favorite fighters in the past, but White seems unaware of the fact.  Most recently, Trump appeared on JRE episode #2219, where he and Joe Rogan geeked out on MMA and discussed who they considered the best in the sport. Mid-conversation, however, Donald Trump invoked the name of a certain boxer who competed in the UFC during the heyday of the ‘Boxing vs. MMA’ argument.

Donald Trump named James Toney as one of his ‘favorites’ while talking MMA with Joe Rogan. The reason Trump brought up Toney’s name is because James Toney famously crossed over to the UFC in 2010. Here’s what Trump said, “So, there was a fighter named James Toney. And he fought as a very light fighter and he ended up as a heavyweight. I mean this guy went through everything.” The former president continued, “And he was a real fighter. I think it was St. George… [Georges] St. Pierre. Who did he fight?”.

James Toney fought at UFC 118 against Randy Couture, during the height of the ‘Boxing vs. MMA’ debate. Not surprisingly, ‘The Natural’ took the pro boxer down in the first round and secured an arm-triangle finish. It’s interesting to note that Toney was never finished in boxing, but in a sport entirely alien to him at that time. Reminding Trump of the moment, Joe Rogan said, “No, James Toney didn’t fight Georges St. Pierre. Yeah, Randy Couture fought James Toney. But that was like an easy fight, very easy fight. Randy Couture just took him down and strangled him.”

James Toney wasn’t the first boxer to crossover into MMA. Art Jimmerson famously competed at UFC 1, with one boxing glove against Royce Gracie. Similar to Toney’s fight with Couture, Gracie took Jimmerson down but tapped him out with a headbutt. Ray Mercer is another boxer who competed in MMA. He lost an exhibition bout against Kimbo Slice in 2007 and won a pro-MMA bout by knocking out Tim Sylvia in 2009.

Like boxers transitioning to MMA, many mixed martial artists made unsuccessful transitions to boxing. The best examples of this are UFC fighters who faced Jake Paul in boxing – Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley, Anderson Silva, Nate Diaz, and Mike Perry. Even Conor McGregor and Francis Ngannou came up short in their respective boxing bouts. All these fighters struggled within the limited ruleset of boxing, as result of fighting MMA for a long time. MMA fighters can win fights without throwing a punch, while boxers have to hit and not get hit. Perhaps, that is the reason we’ve seen more boxers suffer concussions, and long-term brain damage as a result of constantly taking hits to the head.

Donald Trump and Joe Rogan discuss deaths in the UFC versus boxing

In the lead-up to the conversation about James Toney, Trump, and Rogan spoke about Dana White working with Saudi Arabia for boxing bouts. Rogan stated that Saudi Arabians are willing to make fights that other promoters refuse to, for the sake of protecting their fighters. The fact that Saudi Arabia is willing to put so much money behind these fights make the likelihood of dream matchups possible. For example, Francis Ngannou’s boxing bouts against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua took place in Saudi Arabia.

Commenting on Dana White‘s collaboration with Saudi Arabia on boxing, Donald Trump stated, “If Dana’s involved, then he’ll probably make it good”. The former POTUS then went on to point out something very peculiar, “You know the amazing thing, though? In fighting, no UFC fighter, they say, has ever died. And it looks to me, much more violent than boxing. Many boxers have died. Isn’t it interesting? And Dana tells me, it’s because they [boxers] take so many shots to the face.”.

Joe Rogan alluded to the numerous ways fighters could protect themselves in MMA, “So, if you get hit in a UFC fight, you can clinch, you can try to take the fight to the ground, you get options. Also, you aren’t allowed to get knocked down and get back up. When you get knocked down, you’re concussed. And generally, if a guy’s really hurt, they could be finished on the grounds and the fight’s over. If it’s boxing, you have two seconds to get up. You get up, your head kind of clears, but you’re still in real bad trouble. And, you can kind of run away and survive until the bell rings. They’re only three-minute rounds, and then you start again. So, you’re getting repeated punishment to the head.”

Rogan also alluded to weight-cutting being a major cause of death in boxing. The podcaster/comedian stated that most deaths in boxing don’t happen in the heavyweight division – “Most of the deaths in boxing happen in the lighter divisions, because when guys dehydrate themselves to lose weight, to make weight – their brain is the last thing that gets rehydrated. Like, it’s very difficult to completely hydrate your brain quickly. And, you only have 24 hours between the weigh-in and the fight.”

According to The Independent, approximately 500 deaths have occurred in boxing since 1884. In MMA, there have been 20 deaths in sanctioned bouts, and nine in unsanctioned bouts. However, since 1993 there have been no deaths in the premier MMA organization UFC.