As is often the case, US President Donald Trump’s attendance at a UFC 327 event stirred mixed reactions on Saturday night (US time). This time, however, the occasion became the subject of a heated online debate as the Republican leader attended a match, while his next-in-command, Vice President JD Vance, was busy leading talks halfway across the world in Pakistan to end a war.

Being a longtime fan of UFC fights, Trump’s regular visits to such matches have rung an uproar of cheers or boos, or sometimes both simultaneously. His Saturday getaway, however, raised a few questions about what the true reception was like as some social users speculated that the arena music’s volume was turned up as Trump walked out to “hide” the noise of boos.

Donald Trump’s UFC outing goes viral just before JD Vance’s speech in Pakistan

The sporting event’s official account shared the footage of Trump walking out into a bustling Kaseya Centre just after 9 pm, flanked by his youngest daughter, Tiffany Trump, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and UFC chief Dana White. “American Badass” by Kid Rock, who headlined Turning Point USA’s alternative ‘All-American Halftime Show’ during Bad Bunny’s performance at Super Bowl LX, played as all eyes in the Miami arena turned to the president.

While some US reports (like the one by The New York Post) stressed that Trump was welcomed to “cheers and applause” by the Miami crowd, netizens painted a different picture on X.

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Some social media users especially seethed with rage on X as Trump’s arrival at the UFC match gained traction just moments before JD Vance‘s remarks after the high-stakes talks with an Iranian delegation extended for more than 21 hours in Pakistan.

It also didn’t help that the US vice president essentially delivered the “bad news” that the much-anticipated talks had ended with no peace agreement in place, while the world awaited a positive outcome, with the West Asian conflict starting on February 28. Earlier that day, Trump made the bold declaration that he “doesn’t care” if the US and Iran reach as the US has already won as far he’s concerned. Notably, he made these remarks before Vance revealed that both sides had failed to find a common ground during their peace talks in Pakistan.

Contrary to how The New York Post illustrated a happy picture of Trump’s UFC attendance, The New York Times’ White House correspondent Tyler Pager flagged the troubling parallel between Trump’s and Vance’s respective public appearances across international borders on the same day.

“As Vice President Vance enters the 16th hour of talks here in Islamabad, President Trump and Marco Rubio have arrived at an arena in Miami to watch UFC 327,” Pager wrote on X.

A user described the current American situation as being in its “very bad reality TV phase,” while some others accused the Trump administration of “throwing Vance under the bus.”

A third person chimed in, “So the fact that they made JD the point-man on this one makes it seem like these peace talks are designed to fail.” Yet another enraged netizen added, “You wanna Peace deal Trump? Stay at the White House until it is done. Since you are at Miami, YOU DON’T CARE! it’s all a performance for you….”

Someone else wrote, “So while Trump is enjoying this ridiculous ‘fight’ Vance has collapsed the ‘ceasefire’ talks. Back to war it is. These are not serious people.”

Adam Cochran, whose X bio says he is a “professor, policy consultant, independent journalist,” echoed the sentiment in his own tweet. “Trump clearly knew earlier he had no deal,” he wrote. “That’s why he said he didn’t care.”

“He just threw Vance under the bus,” he added. “Which also cements Vance’s career most likely – it would not surprise me if Vance was set up to fail so they could cleanly push Rubio in ‘28. Which would also explain why the odd decision to not have the Secretary of State anywhere near these discussions.”

An X user also took aim at Marco Rubio, saying, “What is the role of the State Dept these days? Used to be foreign diplomacy.” Another quipped, “That’s a new negotiating technique. I haven’t heard of the UFC Offense in diplomacy.”

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Where is JD Vance?

After marathon talks in Pakistan, the American vice president is headed back to the United States. He maintained that he was in constant communication with President Trump during the talks, while also speaking with other senior officials, including Rubio, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Adm Brad Cooper, the commander of the US Central Command.

Meanwhile, Iranian state media reported that Tehran currently has no plans for another round of talks, blaming the deal’s failure on “excessive” demands by the US.

Vance, on the other hand, stated that the US had made its “final and best offer” to the Iranian side, insisting that America’s terms for a deal were “quite flexible.”

“I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America. So we go back to the United States having not come to an agreement,” said Vance after the 21-hour-long talks.

“We were quite accommodating. The president told us, ‘You need to come here in good faith and make your best effort to get a deal.’ We did that, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to make any headway,” he added, while highlighting that Iran didn’t commit to forgoing building a nuclear weapon.