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Former UFC Interim Welterweight Champion Colby Covington faces UFC Welterweight Champion Leon Edwards for the title in the main event of UFC 296.
Covington has requested that former US President Donald Trump walk him to the Octagon for the main event, but UFC CEO Dana White shot that idea down due to logistical issues.
“Yeah, there was a reason,” Covington said at the pre-fight press conference (transcript via Alexander K. Lee of MMA Fighting). “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.’
“So unfortunately Donald Trump won’t be able to walk out with me, but he’ll be cageside and I’ll give him a hug before I enter that octagon and I’ll see him cageside and he’ll be putting that belt around my waist Saturday night.”
Trump has attended many UFC events in the past, while Covington and White have visited Trump in the White House during his reign as US President.
The former interim champion also believes that nobody can beat him when Trump is watching him fight in person.
“There is truth to that,” Covington said. “Donald Trump will be in attendance Saturday night and he’s going to wrap that belt around me. I love Dana White, but I just asked Dana if he could let Donald put it around me, so it’s going to be a spectacle. It doesn’t matter who they put in there Saturday night.
“They can put The Hulk in there Saturday night. No one’s beating me in front of Donald Trump. We’re going to make America great again, we’re going to make the UFC welterweight division great again because Leon’s made an absolute joke of it.”
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