Colby Covington has been open about his affinity for Donald Trump. The UFC fighter admires the former US president so much he wants to ensure he’s a part of his upcoming fight.
It’ll be Covington’s first fight in two years, and it’ll be a big one. Covington will face face Leon Edwards for the welterweight championship at UFC 296 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday. If Covington wins, he wants the former president to put the championship belt on him.
“I asked Dana [White], respectfully, could he step to the side and let Donald Trump put it on,” Covington said recently on the Full Send Podcast referring to the championship belt he hopes to win.
“That would mean everything to me, man,” Covington added. “I’m his biggest fan, he’s my biggest role model. What better way for him to put the belt around me? … Who better than the most famous person on planet Earth, Donald Trump, to give me the belt?”
It also appears Covington wanted more than just to be given the belt by Trump. He wanted a full on escort into the Octagon, but MMA turned it down.
“Yeah, there was a reason,” Covington said, according to MMAFighting.com. “He called me about that. I asked Donald Trump if he could walk me out, I saw him at Mar-a-Lago before I left and I got this suit signed by him. He said he would walk me out. We called the UFC and Dana and he said, ‘’Logistically, Colby, it would just be too tough. He has almost a hundred Secret Service that comes with him and it would be too much mayhem to get you to the cage and get him there at the same time.'”
Back in September of 2020, Covington received a congratulatory call from Trump after scoring a fifth-round TKO in the main event UFC Fight Night.
[Fox, Full Send Podcast on Youtube]
About Jessica Kleinschmidt
Jess is a baseball fan with Reno, Nev. roots residing in the Bay Area. She is the host of "Short and to the Point" and is also a broadcaster with the Oakland A's Radio Network. She previously worked for MLB.com and NBC Sports Bay Area.