Jacob Volkmann – The Barack Obama Shocking Update
By Sean Farrell
When you hear “Jacob Volkmann,” you immediately say “who?”
Not anymore.
Jacob Volkmann, a 12-2 mixed martial artist, stirred the pot a little too much this past week as he was doing an interview and made some statements about President Obama that our Government was not too thrilled about.
Volkmann in his post fight interview with Ariel Helwani went a little to tongue and cheek when Helwani asked Volkmann who he would like to fight next and Volkmann responded with “Actually, Obama. He’s not too bright. … His health care plan – someone’s gotta knock some sense into that idiot. … I’m a chiropractor, so I know the health care situation – but he’s making it worse.”
Volkmann is a licensed chiropractor in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. His comment spread so quickly that Volkmann became target of standard government operations when he was paid a visit by the Secret Service while teaching a wrestling class. “He just wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to D.C. to hurt the president,” Volkmann said. “He said he was actually embarrassed to come in and question me. He saw the clip. He did a background on me. He knew I was no threat.”
Although this situation was absolutely ridiculous, Volkmann said he’ll appear on the Fox Business network tomorrow, and a gag on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno has already gone viral. “I never thought it would go this far,” Volkmann said. “I thought maybe the president would hear about it. That’s about it. Not on the news.”
Volkmann voted for Republican John McCain in 2008’s Presidential Election and said the exposure has brought him his fair share of hate mail his way. He plans to work all the negative attention to his gain. “My manager (Monte Cox) was like, ‘Keep it up,’ so I’m going to roll with it some more,” Volkmann stated. “I got a lot of e-mails (from people) saying they had never seen fighting before, and now they’re interested in it because of what I said. I’ve been getting a lot of hate e-mails and a lot of hate phone calls. It’s kind of irritating. I try not to think about it too much. But there’s been a lot of negative response. I was told by my manager [Monte Cox] that they are trying to cut 60-plus people from the UFC, and 155 is one of the biggest weight classes they’re cutting,” said Volkmann, who doesn’t have an opponent or fight date at this time.
“To know that they’re not going to cut me feels great.” Yes Volkmann’s main reason for “the joke.” was to keep his job it was planned.
Volkmann figured he’d become a more valuable asset to the UFC by becoming known amongst casual viewers. “Yeah, I planned it a little bit,” Volkmann said. “My fight against Antonio McKee was a boring fight. I had to get the attention off that boring fight. Now there will be a lot of people watching me in my next UFC fight. They will be against me, really against me, and some will be for me. But a lot more people will be watching me because of this. It was a real good move on my part. There is a lot of hype around this. Hopefully, the UFC utilizes it, because there will be a lot more people watching the fights.”
Volkman also told ESPN that he sticks to his views on health care but not wanting to really beat up the president “I was just joking around when I said that, but I’m sticking to what I said about his policies,” said Volkmann. “Anybody who watched the video could see that I was laughing at the time I said it. I don’t know how people could actually take it seriously — that I was actually going to try to harm him.” Volkmann may have kept his job but what kind of heat and stigma will follow the UFC with it?
Expect Volkmann to be more careful the next time he decides to open his mouth even though he meant no harm.