UFC champ Sean Strickland to donate to Trump campaign after fight win, ‘travesty’ of NYC conviction

"President Trump, you're the man, bro," Strickland said after he took the win. "It's a d*mn travesty what they're doing to you. I'll be donating to you, my man. Let's get it done." Strickland joins others who have publicly revealed their monetary support for Trump in the wake of the conviction.

Strickland competed against Paulo Costa in the ring and after the fight UFC announcer and podcaster Joe Rogan gave him the mic. Strickland made the pledge to support Trump.

During the late night at UFC, Trump and Strickland also "faced off" in pretend match-up for press pics by the snack bar.

Trump was convicted last week on 34 counts of falsified business records in a case brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. The prosecution argued that after an alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels, Trump reimbursed his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to pay Daniels off with "hush money" payments leading up to the 2016 election and then falsified receipts and other documentation of these payments as "legal fees".

Falsified business records in New York is usually a misdemeanor offense and would be past the statute of limitations for Trump. Bragg and the prosecuting team, including Matthew Colangelo who was formerly third in command at Biden's DOJ, argued that these offenses could be escalated to felonies and therefore prosecuted in the state of New York after federal election authorities considered the case but declined to prosecute it years ago.

The prosecution argued that the business record charges were felonies because Trump allegedly used or had intent to use "unlawful means" to promote the outcome of an election but was not specific about what those unlawful means were leading up to the verdict. Judge Juan Merchan, who has donated to pro-Biden causes, told the jury that the "unlawful means" could include the Federal Election Campaign Act, falsification of other business records, or violation of tax laws. The jury did not have to agree on these three means for the guilty verdict, just that Trump had intent to or did one of them to convict on felony charges.

Trump and many legal scholars have said that the case was based on a novel legal theory, and will not hold up on an appeal. Sentencing for the GOP frontrunner is set for July 11.