Why Everlast performed 'America the Beautiful' at UFC 216

LAS VEGAS – Only once before Saturday night had the UFC opened an event with the singing of our national anthem, and the reason was because of a tragedy.

It was at UFC 33 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Vegas – 17 days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

When Las Vegas was shaken to its core last week by the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, coincidentally at Mandalay Bay, UFC President Dana White knew what he wanted do: invite first responders and victims to UFC 216 and honor them with a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

So White called on longtime friend and Grammy Award-winning artist Everlast, who wanted to take part in a tribute. It’s just that something felt off about some lyrics – “rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air” – after what just happened. Instead, an acoustic guitar performance of “America the Beautiful” is what Everlast figured would work best.

“I love my country, and I love the anthem, all that, whatever,” Everlast said. “But it just seemed like this was a little more healing. The ‘crown thy good with brotherhood,’ I like that sentiment right now just a little bit better, considering there was a war zone here like five days ago. I don’t need to talk about bombs. That’s just how I felt. …

“I hope I made the right decision. I feel good about it. I feel like it may have opened up a little room in people’s hearts to start healing.”

White was on board when Everlast pitched it.

“What he said was … ‘We don’t need controversy. We need unity. This is what I want to sing,'” White said. “And I said, ‘Dude, that’s a great idea. I love it.'”

The performance in front of the T-Mobile Arena crowd, which included 1,500 victims and first responders from the shooting, opened the PPV portion of UFC 216 and was the highlight of several showings of support throughout the night.

Las Vegas resident Brad Tavares (14-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC), who normally walks to the octagon with the Hawaiian flag, also brought the state flag of Nevada with him and delivered a powerful message after his prelim-opening win over Thales Leites (27-8 MMA, 12-7 UFC). Evan Dunham (18-6-1 MMA, 11-6-1 UFC), another resident of the city, also draped himself in the Nevada state flag with #VegasStrong written on it and gave an uplifting speech following his majority-draw with Beneil Dariush (14-3-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC).

White was happy with how the night unfolded and thanked Las Vegas police for being “instrumental” in the UFC reaching out to invite first responders and victims to the event.

And Everlast, who didn’t even know how to play “America the Beautiful” before Thursday, was pleased he didn’t ruin the special occasion.

“I played the song probably 310 times in the last three days, no joke,” Everlast said. “The crowd didn’t scare me. The song didn’t scare me. (But) the moment made me nervous.”

For complete coverage of UFC 216, check out the UFC Events section of the site.