'Stand your butt up': Senator and former martial arts fighter gets into testy exchange with union boss

WASHINGTON − The Senate almost turned into The Octagon on Tuesday as Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin invited a Teamsters boss to throw down in a fit of anger over the union leader's mean tweets.

Mullin, a Republican former mixed martial arts fighter, challenged International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Sean O'Brien to fistfight in the middle of a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and rose from his seat before Sen. Bernie Sanders, the committee chairman, ordered him to sit down.

Tension spiked in the committee room as Mullin veered from a defense of so-called “right to work” states like Oklahoma, which are inhospitable to labor unions, to reading aloud from tweets O'Brien had posted after the two clashed during a June hearing.

O’Brien had called Mullin, whose personal fortune runs into the tens of millions, a “clown” and a “fraud” who “pretends like he’s self-made.”

“In reality, just a clown & fraud. Always has been, always will be. Quit the tough guy act in these senate hearings. You know where to find me. Anyplace, Anytime cowboy,” O’Brien wrote in June.

Speaking to O’Brien from his perch at the committee table, Mullin said, “Sir, this is a time, this is a place. You want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults, we can finish it here.”

“OK, that’s fine. Perfect,” O’Brien fired back from the witness table.

“You want to do it now?” Mullin asked. “Stand your butt up then.”

O’Brien, a fourth-generation Teamster, replied, “You stand your butt up, big guy.”

Sanders, the Vermont Independent, began tapping his gavel. “Hold it. No, no, no, sit down. Sit down!” he shouted. “You’re a United State senator, sit down.”

“This is a hearing and God knows the American people have enough contempt for Congress.”

But the exchange continued, with Mullin alluding to O’Brien’s union disciplinary record. He summoned the Teamster to a charity match next year in Tulsa.

Mullin’s Senate biography says he had an undefeated 5-0 record in the eight-sided MMA ring and is a member of the Oklahoma Wresting Hall of Fame. MMA sites Tapology and Sherdog each list him with a 3-0 record in matches in 2006 and 2007. The reasons for the discrepancy weren’t immediately clear.

“Excuse me, hold it. Senator Mullin, I have the mic,” Sanders said. “If you have questions on any economic issues, anything that was said, go for it. We’re not here to talk about physical abuse.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sen. Markwayne Mullin challenges Teamsters leader to fight