President Donald Trump has an undeniable place in UFC history, having been the man to provide UFC a home at his Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City in 2001. Those were dark days for the promotion, but with UFC now in the limelight and Trump in the Oval Office, the President of the United States is expected to make his first appearance at a UFC event in years.
Trump plans to attend UFC 244 this Saturday from New York's storied Madison Square Garden and stay over at Trump Tower, according to reports.
Trump and the UFC have come a long way since late Arizona Senator John McCain was leading the charge to ban mixed martial arts across America. Trump won the presidency in 2016 and the UFC is a multi-billion dollar promotion holding major events across the world after selling for $4.1 billion in that same year. The UFC previously created a documentary titled COMBATANT IN CHIEF: The Story of Donald Trump's History in Combat Sports.
UFC 244 is headlined by a bout for the "BMF" championship between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal. Masvidal has recently verbally battled with former teammate Colby Covington, an outspoken Trump supporter who is rarely seen outside the cage without a "Make America Great Again" hat.
In a surprising twist, Masvidal pitched his own support for Trump while speaking with the media on Thursday.
"Trump's a cool motherf-----," Masvidal said. "I don't want to get too much into politics though, you know, a lot of my Latin community might be upset at me so I'm not going to dabble into politics right now, my brother."
Trump appeared at another major sporting event this past week, attending a World Series game in Washington D.C. where he was loudly booed when he appeared on the Nationals Park video board.
