'I thought it was a joke': Mockery as Iran talks collapse while Trump booed at UFC event

The internet was stunned on Saturday night after Vice President JD Vance announced that talks had failed between Iran and the United States — all while President Donald Trump and his family attended a UFC event in Miami.

Trump walked into the arena to a largely cheering crowd, though many booed while Kid Rock blared, just as Vance had publicly acknowledged the conversation between the Iranian and American diplomatic teams had not reached an agreement despite the 21 hours of marathon talking.

People didn't hold back from sharing their thoughts on social media:

"I guess all the Iran experts had to be at the UFC?" Writer and essayist Hari Kunzru wrote on Bluesky.

"When I heard that Trump was at a UFC fight tonight while Vance was trying to hammer out the Iran deal at four in the morning, Iran time, I thought it was a joke," writer Mary Pezzulo wrote on Bluesky.

"How the f--- is the president and Secretary of State at a UFC fight in Miami while war negotiations affecting the world economy are falling apart. And I know that MF-- isn’t going to try to play golf tomorrow too," Ron Filipkowski, Editor in Chief of MeidasNews, wrote on Bluesky.

"These 2 pics are happening simultaneously: LEFT: Vance after he fails to secure permanent ceasefire to the illegal war Trump launched. RIGHT: Trump attends UFC fight 5 days after threatening genocide of 90M people. This is what happens when you elect a genocidal fascist and an unqualified sycophant," Qasim Rashid, human rights lawyer, wrote on Bluesky.

"He clearly just wants to run the UFC, not the country. Someone should find a way to make that happen," Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin, founder of The Gaia Leadership Project & The Ripple Effect Institute, wrote on Bluesky.

"There was never a framework for a deal. I heard someone say, 'Not only does Iran have the cards, but they hold a strait.' Another Trump failure," writer and editor Stephen Simpson wrote on X.

"The Strait was open. Trump started an unprovoked, unauthorized war, and now the enemy controls the Strait, and won’t give it back," liberal political commentator Marlene Johnson wrote on X.