A Republican senator challenged a prominent union boss to a cage fight.
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin(R) is ready to fight International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien “anytime, anyplace” after the union leader slammed Mullin online.
Sen. Mullin told Fox News that he gladly accepted O'Brien's challenge, saying it's “simple: he said ‘anyplace, anytime,' so we accepted September 30th in Tulsa, Oklahoma.”
“Too often, these big bully union bosses try to intimidate individuals and never get called out on it,” Mullin said. “I refuse to tolerate loudmouth bullies like O'Brien who got suspended over threats to his own union members, thinks unions ought to be ‘militant organizations' and vilifies right-to-work states like Oklahoma – all while calling for fights on social media.”
The pointed remark came after O'Brien took shots at the Republican Senator on social media.
“Greedy CEO who pretends like he's self made. In reality, just a clown [and] fraud,” O'Brien tweeted. “Quit the tough guy act in these senate (sic) hearings.”
“You know where to find me,” he continued. “Anyplace, Anytime cowboy.”
Mullin responded on Twitter on Monday, challenging the Teamsters boss to a charitable mixed martial arts (MMA) fight at the end of September in Oklahoma.
“An attention-seeking union Teamster boss is trying to be punchy after our Senate hearing,” the former MMA fighter wrote. “Okay, I accept your challenge. MMA fight for charity of our choice. Sept 30th in Tulsa, Oklahoma.”
The challenge to hold an MMA fight isn't the first combative exchange between the two.
In March, the Oklahoma Senator recently slammed O'Brien during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing over the union leader's high salary compared to his union members.
Sen. Mullin, who owns a plumbing business, accused unions of attempting to intimidate his employees when they started being awarded jobs that typically went to union workers.
“They would show up at my house. They'd be leaning up against my trucks. I'm not afraid of a physical confrontation, in fact sometimes I look forward to it. That's not my problem. But when you're doing that to my employees?” Mullin said.
“For what? Because we were paying higher wages? Because we had better benefits, and [weren't] requiring them to pay your guys' exorbitant salaries?” he added before asking O'Brien what he made as a salary.
O'Brien began to answer, but Mullin continued, saying O'Brien made $193,000 in 2019 while the average driver makes $35,000 a year. “And what do you bring to the table?” he asked O'Brien.
“What job have you created – one job – other than sucking the paycheck out of somebody else?” he asked.
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