Oklahoma GOP Senator Markwayne Mullin on Tuesday told Newsmax that he challenged Sean O'Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, to a mixed martial arts (MMA) fight for charity because he's "a thug in every way" and "a bully."
Mullin explained on "American Agenda" that he took to Twitter on Monday to respond to O'Brien's June 21st tweet that called the senator a "Greedy CEO who pretends like he's self-made. In reality, just a clown & fraud."
"[O'Brien's] a Teamsters union boss and an absolute bully," Mullin said. "He's a thug in every way. He's been actually suspended from his own guys … for bullying his union members. He says unions should be a militia or a militant group. He thinks you should bring back the mob mentality."
According to the senator, when he saw O'Brien's closing comments in his message — "You know where to find me. Anyplace anytime, cowboy." — "I just simply said, 'Challenge accepted.' "
Five days later, Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, tweeted back to O'Brien: "An attention-seeking union Teamster boss is trying to be punchy after our Senate hearing. Okay, I accept your challenge. MMA fight for charity of our choice. Sept 30th in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I'll give you 3 days to accept."
At this time, O'Brien has not responded to the senator's challenge.
"I didn't call him out, but if he wants to run his mouth like that, then fine," Mullin told host Bob Sellers and guest co-host Lydia Curanaj. "I hate bullies, always have hated bullies. And if he wants to do that and we can fight for a good cause, he can pick his charity, I'll pick my charity, and the winner gets the money.
"I was a professional fighter for a while. I wasn't as good as some, but I was better than others," he added. "I never could make a living at it, but I did have fun doing it. I've been retired for 15 years, and I never had intentions of ever stepping back in the octagon, but for a cause like this and to show a bully up like him, I'd do it for free, which is obviously what we're going to do here."
The conversation then turned to the world stage, when Sellers asked Mullin for his thoughts regarding President Joe Biden and his administration's handling of the current situations with Russia and China. The senator pulled no punches there, either.
"The United States … can't continue to have this appeasement policy that Biden has right now," Mullin said. "He believes in peace through appeasement. I believe in what [former President Ronald] Reagan and what [former] President [Donald] Trump believes in, [which] is peace through strength. When the world sees a strong United States, it brings on stability because, like it or not, we do have that force and with all that says, 'Listen, you don't want to mess with the United States or their allies.'
Mullin explained that when the U.S. starts taking steps back instead of steps forward, "you start shaky grounds. You see people like Putin, and like President Xi [Jinping] and China, be very aggressive to their neighbors. We have to be stronger and believe what we say when we do it. … When we tell the world that 'This is a red line,' that has to be a red line. That's why you didn't see any of this aggression when Trump was in office. They believed what he said.
With Biden and with [former President Barack] Obama, they have a red line that doesn't exist," he continued. "We have to be back in the powerhouse and in the seat, because if not, President Xi is wanting to take that from us.
"Listen, we don't want the Communists to be running the world. Somebody has to be there, and it should be the United States."
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