Trump Attends U.F.C. Fight in New York

President-elect Donald J. Trump arrived at Madison Square Garden for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event, which for a brief moment resembled one of his campaign rallies.

President-elect Donald J. Trump, who has made few public appearances since Election Day, returned on Saturday to Madison Square Garden, the site of an inflammatory campaign rally late last month, to face a warm welcome from tens of thousands of people at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event.

Mr. Trump walked in to “American Bad Ass,” by Kid Rock, and was met with a chant of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”

As the president-elect took his seat around 10 p.m. at the edge of the octagonal fighters’ cage, the arena for a few minutes could have been mistaken for one of his rallies. In an unusually political scene at a major sporting event, Mr. Trump was heralded on the Jumbotrons with a sleek video that began with Fox News calling the election for him and ended with the numbers 45 and 47 flashing red on a black screen.

Joining Mr. Trump at the event were Elon Musk and the podcaster Joe Rogan, as well as several of the president-elect’s choices for high-ranking posts in his administration: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the would-be health secretary; Tulsi Gabbard, his pick for director of national intelligence; and Vivek Ramaswamy, who along with Mr. Musk has been tasked with leading the Department of Government Efficiency, intended to advise on cost-cutting. The group, which also included Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, looked incongruously formal in an arena filled with sweatshirts, U.F.C. gear and baseball caps.

Also in Mr. Trump’s circle was Dana White, the U.F.C. chief executive and a longtime friend, who has become close enough to the political operation that Mr. Trump invited him onstage in West Palm Beach, Fla., after his victory speech on election night. Mr. White used the moment to thank a handful of bro-culture podcasters, including the enormously popular Mr. Rogan.

Mr. Trump’s campaign aggressively courted young male voters, also a significant share of U.F.C.’s target audience, through podcast appearances, and the league’s cast of characters played a role in Mr. Trump’s campaign. Steven Cheung, Mr. Trump’s campaign spokesman and his pick for White House communications director, once worked in U.F.C.’s communications office.

After the hectic final weeks of his campaign that amounted to his busiest stretch in years, Mr. Trump has largely stayed within the gates of Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Fla., since Election Day on Nov. 5.

There, he has been toasted by a steady stream of supporters and sought out by those hoping for a job in his administration. Mr. Trump has also delivered speeches at galas in Florida hosted by right-wing political organizations that hope to help set his administration’s agenda. He ventured to Washington this past week only to meet with President Biden in the Oval Office and to attend a closed-door meeting with House Republicans. He has not taken questions from the news media.

The U.F.C. audience on Saturday, diverse in age and race, came from across the country, and not everyone seemed to hold strong feelings about Mr. Trump, even if some were excited to see him.

Joe Levore, 44, of Whippany, N.J., who supports Mr. Trump though he did not cast a vote, said he was more thrilled to see Jon Jones, the headline fighter of the night.

Darryl Jackson, 63, of Louisiana, said that his family had pressured him to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, but that he was actually a big Trump supporter. Still, the president-elect was not the main draw of the evening for Mr. Jackson, who said he was eager to see Mr. Jones fight in person.

Mr. Jones, the current heavyweight champion, won the fight in the third round with a roundhouse kick that left his opponent, Stipe Miocic, prostrate on the mat. Afterward, Mr. Jones celebrated with an imitation of Mr. Trump’s signature dance — a recent favorite among athletes — twisting his hips to the beat and bobbing his fisted hands. He later handed the president-elect his championship belt.

After thanking Mr. Trump and announcing he would not retire, contrary to speculation in the lead-up to the fight, Mr. Jones led the crowd in another chant of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” Then, standing in the center of the ring, he busted out the Trump dance again.

Trump Builds His Administration

As his team ramps up the transition process, President-elect Donald Trump says his administration will radically reshape the federal government.

• White House Press Secretary: Trump announced that he had chosen Karoline Leavitt, who worked in his administration and was his campaign’s press secretary, to be his White House press secretary.
• Justice Department: Trump intends to nominate three members of his criminal defense team to senior roles at the department, raising further concerns about politicization of the department.
• Health and Human Services: Trump said he would nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy opposes fluoride in water, promotes unproven Covid therapies and has threatened to prosecute medical journals.
• Immigration: Trump’s plans to expel noncitizens on a mass scale are likely to raise prices on goods and services and lower employment rates for U.S. workers, many economists say.
• Skirting the Senate: Trump’s demand that Senate Republicans surrender their role in vetting his nominees poses an early test of whether his second term will be more radical than his first.