UFC Fighter Earns a Visit from the Secret Service

Jacob Volkmann, a lightweight mixed martial arts fighter affiliated with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, isn't very fond of President Obama's health care reforms. The Teutonic tough guy, who in his non-brawling life is a Minneapolis chiropractor, told an interviewer last week that Obama's "not too bright" and that "someone's gotta knock some sense into that idiot" (watch the video below). When asked if he was a Palin fan (because if you think the health care bill makes care less efficient, you must be a fan of the Alaskan reality show star), Volkmann said no, explaining that he thought the new health care regulations made his business more difficult. And that's when the Secret Service paid him a visit:

"It happened on Tuesday, I was coaching youth practice, and then two guys came up and one of the other coaches that was helping me out, they said there was a cop and another guy out there waiting for me," Volkmann told MMAWeekly.com. "I went out there and the guy introduced himself and said he was from the Secret Service and he wanted to ask me some questions about UFC 125 and my quote. He said there were people calling in to D.C. telling them that somebody, me, was threatening the President…."

"This guy had the whole interview on a piece of paper and it had my picture and everything," said Volkmann. "He was like 'is this what you said?' and I said, 'yes it is.' He's like 'I want to let you know I'm a little embarrassed for coming here and doing this because obviously nothing happened.' He actually apologized for coming, but he had to come. He wanted to make sure I wasn't going to D.C to hurt the President.
"The thing is, I got home and I checked my e-mail and I had about 20 e-mails and one of them, one of ladies had actually contacted the FBI and the Secret Service, and she was telling me that she was going to do it…."

"People were misunderstanding the point of view I was going for with the health care plan. That's why they were getting so upset. I'm thinking about the provider, I'm a chiropractor, so I'm thinking about my point of view, not everyone getting insurance. They don't have to worry about getting denied, which is good I guess, just not good for health care providers," he said.

Comments

[sloopyinca]

Did the SS pay a visit to the NBA players who said they wanted to play with Obama? As far as I can tell, this athlete said he would like to participate in his sport with the President. Isn't that exactly what those other guys did as well?

One striking difference between those fellows and this guy comes to mind, though. Anyone want to wager a guess as to what that difference is?

[Almanian]

Height?

[sloopyinca]

OK, two differences.

[Almanian]

average income?

[Tulpa]

Uh, basketball doesn't center around infliction of bodily injury?

[Mr. FIFY]

No chance of bodily injury = not a sport.

E.g.: Lacrosse.

[Hello...]

...golf!

[Tulpa]

Every human activity has as a nonzero risk of bodily injury. But in most sports, injuring your opponent isn't the primary means of victory, as it is in fighting sports.

Not that there's anything wrong with people playing fighting sports. But if a boxer says he wants to fight against you, it probably means something slightly different from a chessmaster saying he wants to play a game against you.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Not that there's anything wrong with people playing fighting sports. But if a boxer says he wants to fight against you, it probably means something slightly different from a chessmaster saying he wants to play a game against you.

Obviously, you've never seen a match of Chess boxing.

[sloopyinca]

Uh, basketball doesn't center around infliction of bodily injury?

Presidential pick-up basketball can be dangerous too

As usual, you are sadly mistaken.

[Tulpa]

You don't seem to understand the verb phrase "center around" means. Basketball injuries are incidental to the sport. In fighting sports, injuries are the whole point.

[Klingon Football League]

It is a good day to die... attempting to kick a field goal.

[the right does it too]

You mean other than this guy is white?

[Ken Shultz]

I've heard of the Secret Service doing this kind of thing before.

Every government office spends half its time trying to justify its budget--and what's the point of increasing the budget to protect the president if they aren't watching what everybody says in public and intimidating anybody who...

That's one of the reasons I wish so many people didn't feel it was necessary to hide behind a pseudonym. It makes agencies like that think we're afraid of them.

This reminds me of when the Secret Service dragged that lady away for asking the Chinese Premier embarrassing questions. This reminds me of when Mike Muir got held by the Secret Service for a song he wrote.

I wonder if trying to intimidate an MMA fighter makes Barack Obama feel like a big man? 'cause he's still just a pathetic, pencil necked geek in my book. A weakling, really. Just like all the other little would be dictators.

[dbcooper]

Every government office spends half its time trying to justify its budget

+1 The sad, banal truth ...

[James]

I have a friend who works in government, and a substantial part of his time is spent visiting people who make crackpot statements. He absolutly loathes it. Says it wastes huge amounts of time that could be spent on actual credible security threats.

[Abdul]

I work for the government. At least 5% of my caseload is from certified lunatics. Literally--one wanted my office to investigate why the nigerian business man hadn't sent her the 25 billion he promised and was it related to the fact that she knew about 9/11 beforehand.

But did I have to waste an hour of your money writing a nice letter on government stationary telling her that my office doesn't investigate those things, and the Federal Trade Commission just might have jurisdiction over the Nigeria thing? Yes I did. And some FTC GS-11 will do the same thing a month from now.

[the right does it too]

How is what this guy said a "crackpot statement?" I think the crackpots were the freaks of nature who called the Gestapo on this guy....

[Mr. FIFY]

Like he could get within a mile of Obama without being observed...

[Juice]

The link above is fried.

It points to http://reason.com/admin/pages/

[Five bucks says]

this dude is already on a no-fly list AND has an FBI file on him... and the ink's still fresh.

[Episiarch]

At least the SS agent was embarrassed.

The really fucked thing is that people ratted him out to the SS for that simple statement, just because he had the gall to not approve of the health care bill. What pathetic little sniveling shits.

[shrike]

fuck you, Christ-fag!

[anarch, scrod in Boston]

He wanted to make sure I wasn't going to D.C. to hurt the President

That's the first time I've heard Doctor of Chiropractic used as a verb.

[Almanian]

I admit it, I LOL'ed

[HuffPo brings the stupid]

emperance 14 hours ago (11:57 PM)
34 Fans
Go get an Ivy League education & come back after the graduation?.

Otherwise, go to community college & then, maybe, you can shine his shoes.

[Wonketteer]

I'll bet he's not a licensed, union chiropractor!

[HuffPo brings more stupid]

HUFFPOST SUPER USER
madHenry 01:19 AM on 1/05/2011
270 Fans
Oooooooh, he's a "chiroprac?tor." Not bright enough to get past community college, huh, numbnutz?

[cynical]

Well, not everyone can use techniques as scientifically proven as acupuncture and homeopathy.

[Warty]

There are two types of chiropractors: the ones who just push your back back into place when you fuck it up, and the dipshits who believe in healing pyramids and vaccine conspiracies. Hopefully this guy was one of the former.

[Abdul]

In my experience, there is a huge overlap in the groups.

[Jay]

HUFFPOST SUPER USER is a synonym for moron. A simple fact check would reveal douchebag madHenry placed a public university (University of Minnesota) below community college.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Volkmann

Come to think of it, if madHenry had said "Not bright enough to get past for profit college" he would have been correct.

[Anonymous Coward]

Concerning the video title,

Can you please stop calling everyone puts on a pair of gloves and happens to fight for the UFC a "champ"? Volkmann has yet to hold an MMA title, to say nothing of a UFC title.

Anyway, Volkmann would have to out-blanket Frankie Edgar. That's simply not going to happen.

[Mike M.]

I never heard of this guy before, but I like him already.

[Tulpa]

Jacob the Chiropractor?

[sloopyinca]

I can picture him entering the ring and hear Michael Buffer's voice in my head:

Jacob
The Back-BREAKERRRRRRRRRRR
Vollllkmaaaaaaaaaaaaaann!

[sevo]

If some quack or other finds it difficult to collect taxpayer money, that'd be a plus.
And yes, chiroprac?tors are quacks.

[mike c.]

Chiropractors are full of shite imo. In Libertopia could I set up a witch doctor practice and bilk money out of folks? I'm not sure homeopathy and such isn't fraud.

[Cyto]

If you are not sure, you just might be an idiot...

[anonymous coward]

"People were misunderstanding the point of view I was going for with the health care plan. That's why they were getting so upset. I'm thinking about the provider, I'm a chiropractor, so I'm thinking about my point of view, not everyone getting insurance."

http://econlog.econlib.org/arc....._on_3.html

[Bert]

I don't blame Obama for this. I blame the multitude of lefty whiners who probably orgasmed with glee whenever someone vaguely threatened Bush.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Seriously, the worst thing you can do to a president you hate is turn him into a martyr. Presidents are figure heads behind vast networks, not a snake head.

Unless your president is controlled by a evil alien slug.

Coup's that take out entire ruling parties are the only effective way to promote change (unless you're the vice president).

[Mike Laursen]

Anybody with real intentions to harm the President probably ain't gonna publicly announce their intention to do so.

[Lost_In_Translation]

There are some crazies that might just do it. The sane assasins..no.

Everyone else is just blowing off steam.

[keithrybicki]

People should never forget that real health depends how well you take care of yourself and not what health insurance you carry but I agree health insurance is important for every one. Search "Wise Health Insurance" online for dollar a day insurance plans.

[Johnny Longtorso]

I searched that, but just got porn.

[Dee]

Another attack on freedom of speech.

Seriously, did this political opinion really justify a visit from the Secret Servants? How friggin' ridiculous can they get!!! Someone needs to give them a dictionary so they can learn the difference between a real threat and a political opinion. Idiots!!!

[Drew]

This is what the Secret Service does, for every President, even for threats that seem stupid. They even investigate/interview people who say stuff like this in very obvious parody articles.

It's a stupid and wasteful practice, but it's been part of what they do for a long long time.