NEWARK, N.J. – A member of the first family will be cageside for UFC on ESPN 5’s headliner, or so says Colby Covington.
The former interim UFC welterweight champion, who celebrated his title win with a trip to the White House last year, said Donald Trump Jr. will be in attendance for his fight with Robbie Lawler on Saturday night.
“I can confirm this,” Covington told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “I’m making history in this sport.”
A request for comment to the White House to verify Covington’s claim was not immediately returned.
Covington and Trump Jr. took photos together during a visit to Trump Tower in May. Thursday marks the one-year anniversary Covington’s visit with President Trump at the White House.
“The only fighter in the history of this sport to ever go to the White House and hang out with a sitting president in the Oval Office,” Covington said.
Covington (14-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) is an unabashed supporter of President Trump and invited him to see his fight with Lawler (28-13 MMA, 13-7 UFC). Instead, Covington said Trump’s son will make the visit.
“I’ll be breaking more history this weekend when I have the first family front row at my fight,” Covington said. “That’ll be the first time in history a fighter brings the first family to a UFC fight, so you never know what ‘Chaos’ is going to do.”
A former executive with the now-defunct Affliction and early UFC supporter, President Trump’s history with MMA is well documented. The UFC recently released a special on the president’s involvement with the industry-leader titled, “Combatant in Chief.”
