Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang may still be a largely unknown figure to most of America, but his profile in the MMA world enjoyed a huge boost after the Silicon Valley entrepreneur appeared on an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience. Since then, Yang has gone on to receive donations from over 47,000 individuals, impressive numbers that could lead to his inclusion in the DNC primary debates.
The main plank of his platform? Universal Basic Income, or what he’s calling a ‘Freedom Dividend.’ A thousand bucks in every U.S. adult’s bank account every month. It’s the only solution, he says, to an economy where jobs are increasingly being automated by robots and AI.
He’s not stopping there either. Just this afternoon he returned to the MMA well that served him so well to criticize the UFC’s treatment of its fighters. It turned into quite the interaction.