Report: President Trump plans to attend UFC 244 on Saturday at MSG
President Donald Trump began his week by attending Game 5 of the World Series at Nationals Park, where he was roundly booed by Washington Nationals fans when he appeared on the scoreboard during a salute to the military. He may end it by trying his hand at another sporting event.
Annie Karni, the White House correspondent for the New York Times, tweeted on Tuesday that the President is tentatively scheduled to attend UFC 244 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The main event is for the BMF title, or Baddest Mother[expletive] title, between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal.
Weekend Plans: Trump is tentatively scheduled to go to NYC to attend an MMA event at Madison Square Garden on Sat night, per sources.
Stay over at Trump Tower.
Great news for traffic on NYC Marathon Sunday.— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) October 29, 2019
Yahoo Sports reached out to UFC president Dana White, who declined comment.
Trump, who has promoted both boxing and MMA shows in the past, last attended a fight when he went to the Gennady Golovkin-David Lemieux middleweight title boxing match at Madison Square Garden in Oct., 2015. He was booed by the crowd then when he entered the arena and when he went to visit Golovkin in his dressing room before the fight. Trump also attended the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight with his wife, Melania, at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas in 2015, but that came a month before he announced he was a presidential candidate.
It will be interesting to see if an MMA crowd reacts differently to him than the baseball crowd did, or as the boxing crowd when he was a candidate in 2015.
Trump is a long-time friend of White. White spoke on behalf of Trump at the Republican National Convention in 2016 in Cleveland, and attended Trump’s victory party after the election. He has had dinner with Trump several times since Trump has been in office, including last week.
When news broke about Diaz, as well as about ex-dual UFC champion Conor McGregor, and a Yahoo Sports reporter attempted to reach White to discuss the news. He was silent for several hours before returning a text message and saying he was having dinner with Trump.
Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, hosted UFC 30 and UFC 31 in 2001, the first two events the UFC put on after a group led by White purchased the company. They have maintained a relationship ever since.
Trump also met former UFC interim welterweight champion Colby Covington in the Oval Office and later tweeted him good luck when Covington fought Robbie Lawler.
Fight hard tonight Colby. You are a real Champ! #MAGA https://t.co/dj3JlWQu7i
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2019
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