"I am proud of you" - Fighters react as UFC pays tribute to the late Charlie Kirk

The UFC paid tribute to Charlie Kirk on Saturday night in San Antonio, honoring the late activist at Noche UFC. Fans at Frost Bank Center saw the tribute played before the main card.

Kirk was killed on Sept. 10 during a campus event in Utah. The shooting stunned his supporters and drew immediate reaction well outside political circles. Dana White had known Kirk for years and even joined him on a podcast in 2023.

Messages from fighters began rolling in almost as soon as the news broke. Henry Cejudo called Kirk’s death heartbreaking, Jorge Masvidal and Gilbert Burns shared their own tributes, and Aljamain Sterling offered condolences to Kirk’s family.

Check out the Instagram post below:

Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more

UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili, ex-light heavyweight king Jamahal Hill, and strawweight contender Mackenzie Dern joined the tribute, adding emojis to show their support.

Meanwhile, light heavyweight contender Jonny Walker wrote:

"Let's keep doing and spreading the love and truth like he was doing. I am proud of you Charlie and heart broken same time. Hero!"

Check out some of the reactions below:

Fighters pay their tributes to Charlie Kirk. [Screenshots courtesy: @ufc on Instagram]

UFC color commentator Joe Rogan was recording an episode of his podcast with Charlie Sheen when news broke that Kirk had been shot. Rogan, who was informed about the incident mid-show, appeared visibly shaken as producers confirmed the death.

Reacting to the news on episode #2378 of The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), he said:

"No one deserves this, folks. No one that has different opinions. No one deserves that. This is horrible. I know people are going to celebrate it because this is a f*cked time and people have really fallen into this trap of us against them... We have to have a conversation about being able to have conversations, right? Or it's going to get a lot worse. That's what's scary. This could spark off some kind of real violent conflict. You know, that guy had a lot of fans."

Follow One Championship News, Schedule & Results at Sportskeeda.

Edited by Abhishek Nambiar