First Drop: The Monster at the Podium

UFC Middleweight Champion Sean Strickland sat behind a bottle of Monster Energy last week while he preached a sermon of intolerance and hate. Even worse, it appears, Monster plans to continue to stand behind Strickland.

For those of you who aren’t up on your cage fighting, Strickland is a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter whose thoughts and opinions are delivered with the same violence as his kicks and punches. He gladly wears the mantle of the MAGA dream, bashing through spoken and posted insults enemies like working women, immigrants, liberals, gays, and anyone who doesn’t fit within his limited worldview.

Strickland is also one of several MMA fighters who are sponsored by Monster Energy – a company that has never shied from an edgy aura itself, but one that has never taken too strong a political stance in any situation.

Strickland, on the other hand, has a strong political stance on just about everything, and that includes the LGBTQ community.

In early 2022, Strickland tweeted, “If I had a gay son I would think I failed as a man to create such weakness.”

Shortly before the fight, when asked by a reporter about that remark, he replied, “You’re a weak f—ing man.”

He then went on to expand his tirade to the transgender community.

“Ten years ago, to be trans, was a mental f—-ing illness,” Strickland brayed, going on to attack the reporter. “And now all of a sudden people like you have weaseled your way into the world. You are an infection, you are the definition of weakness. Everything that is wrong with the world is because of f–king you.

“The world is not saying, you know what, you’re right, chicks have dicks. The world is saying, you know what, there are two genders. I don’t want my kids being taught about who they could fuck in school … being taught about their sexual preference. This guy is an enemy.”

Now, it’s no secret that UFC is the sporting equivalent of a Trump rally – to the point where president and CEO Dana White has effectively turned UFC fight cards into Trump rallies by walking into the arena with the former president, Kid Rock, and Tucker Carlson. The right wing flaps so hard internally that even when the UFC struck a sponsorship deal with Anheuser-Busch for its struggling Bud Light brand – a recent punching bag for conservatives over its brief marketing relationship with transgender celebrity Dylan Mulvaney – Strickland didn’t get in trouble for swearing he would continue to attack the beer company, tweeting that “women are born not made, transgenders are mentally ill, and society should never accept this as normal.”

After the fight – which Strickland lost, I am glad to report – White flew to the defense of those who might have criticized the fighter, saying the organization promotes free speech and expression from its fighters (note that in previous interviews, White has said he doesn’t want politics from the podium, a view that has clearly changed). The UFC clearly knows its audience!

But what about Monster? Didn’t anyone at the company realize they were backing a guy who has admitted to going through, he said, “this weird neo-Nazi, white supremacist phase when I was younger, and I got kicked out of school for, like, hate crimes, all this crazy sh*t.”

Maybe Monster feels compassion for Strickland, who has said that as a child he was abused by his father and believes he has PTSD. After the “crazy sh-t,” the fight game turned Strickland’s life around, he said. Now he only attacks reporters, the LGBTQ community, Palestinian UFC fighters, “cucks,” women, Democrats, Native Americans, Globalists, and anyone else out there who may be perceived as “woke,” verbally and on social media. Quite a turnaround. Instead of perpetuating crimes against them himself, he – jokingly, of course – encourages his followers to do it.

When I heard about Strickland’s statements, I reached out to Monster CEO Rodney Sacks – who had actually name-checked Strickland during an investor meeting that same week as a “great champion” – to see if the company was considering dropping him. Here’s the terse response I received from Monster spokesman Sam Pontrelli.

“Monster sponsors thousands of athletes all over the world. As such, every once in a while, comments made by one individual will be in contrast to the values of the company. We have no other comment.”

Thanks, guys. Here’s my response to Monster’s response: Your company’s got a hate-monger on your payroll. You can do better. I have no other comment.