Donald Trump’s ‘obscene’ Thriller boxing payout revealed in new financial disclosures

[ad_1]

Donald Trump and Kid Rock at a UFC event. – Photo: IMAGO / Zuma / Matias J. Ocner

Donald Trump’s revised personal financial disclosures were recently made public. Despite numerous legal issues, the still popular former US President took home over $1 billion after his term.

Most of those new disclosures came from the sale of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, a partnership with Hudson Waterfront Associates, and his Miami golf resort, whose three ventures totaled about $642 million.

The bulk of the 77-year-old’s money also comes from dozens of speaking appearances. Interestingly, the biggest of them all came from Triller’s 2021 boxing event.

Donald Trump’s highest paid appearance is from Thriller

In 2021, Triller Fight Club was heavily criticized by many for circumventing the commission’s rules, and putting on a rather gross mismatch, where former UFC champ Vitor Belfort knocked out a 58-year-old Evander Holyfield.

Donald Trump served as an extra color commentator for that boxing event, with initial reports saying the former President was paid an “obscene” amount of money for it. No official numbers were released at the time, but event staff were reportedly “really mad” about it, with Triller also giving Trump a G-5 jet to pick him up from his home on Mar- a-Lago to a place less than an hour’s drive away.

Trump’s latest financial disclosures show that Trump received $2.5 million for that commentary gig, which is by far the largest payment of all his speaking appearances since leaving office.

Triller released a statement about Trump’s multimillion dollar payout

Triller, who likes to throw money at a lot of random things outside of actual boxing, justified their payment to the former President. The Washington Post has:

Triller, in a statement, said: The payment made to Trump for his commentary is in line with fees typically received by celebrity commentators, and cited what it called Trump’s successful hosting of past events in boxing.

Trump’s other public speaking appearances were paid less than Triller’s. The closest was a $2.3 million deal for four speaking engagements in three states for the “American Freedom Tour,” and $2 million for two appearances in two different states for the “Universal Peace Federation World Summits.”

That Thriller event was unsurprisingly a hit on PPV, reportedly earning just 150,000 buys. Triller’s former PR firm also angrily announced parting ways with the company soon after.

With the event’s massive financial losses, Trump’s $2.5 million payout doesn’t sound like a very “successful hosting” for Triller.

Donald Trump has many ties to combat sports

Trump, who is leading the polls for the 2024 Republican Presidential nomination, has many ties to combat sports, including deep roots in what is currently the largest fight promoter on planet earth. Donald Trump recently attended UFC 290, and is getting a massive push from Dana White and company, which includes an appearance on UFC Unfiltered.

A Republican strategist recently outlined the benefits of his close ties to the UFC for his 2024 Presidential bid, saying “doing non-traditional media and showing up at major cultural events like UFC fights provides -allowed former President Trump to hit a completely different audience than doing an interview with Fox News or other political media.”

IMAGO / USA TODAY Network

Bloody Elbow has a hard-earned reputation as the go-to source for combat sports business and legal coverage. If you want to see more of this kind of work, please subscribe to the Bloody Elbow newsletter and find out how you can support the site.

Join the Bloody Elbow Substack!

Support Bloody Elbow, and get exclusive content.

Share this story

About the author

Anton Tabuena is the Managing Editor for Bloody Elbow. He has been covering MMA and combat sports since 2009, and has also fought in MMA, Muay Thai and kickboxing.

More from the author

[ad_2]