Senator John McCain did a huge deal of damage to MMA in the 1990s still in its teething stages as a sport when he dismissed it as human cockfighting. Until the UFC was bought out by Dana White and the Ferttita brothers, the influence of bad publicity and outspoken critics like John McCain nearly made the sports biggest promotion go into bankruptcy. Even in a 2007 interview conducted with NPR, though McCain ceded that the sport had progressed since its early years, he still maintained that he was by no means a fan. Despite having almost helped to kill off MMA in North America, Chuck Liddell still publicly endorsed John McCain in the 2008 presidential election, lending his name to the Republicans campaign. The UFC wouldnt say that McCain is their enemy, but it came as a great surprise that Liddell should support the UFCs notorious detractor when he was such a big obstacle to the company in those early years. Obviously Liddell is allowed to have whatever political affiliation he sees fit, but the UFC would likely rather not associate itself with John McCain.