UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington was in the building for Tuesday night’s presidential debate—as a personal guest of Donald Trump.
Covington made several appearances during the broadcast, and towards the end, could be heard hailing Trump as the greatest President in US history.
Colby Covington at the #PresidentialDebate2020 pic.twitter.com/7YQLCFohh3
— Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman) September 30, 2020
Colby Covington’s seat at the #PresidentialDebate2020 pic.twitter.com/8XkHBxEXyH
— Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman) September 30, 2020
Colby Covington yelling for Trump at the end of the #PresidentialDebate2020 pic.twitter.com/F2JgVOstt6
— Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman) September 30, 2020
It’s no secret that Colby Covington is a dedicated Donald Trump supporter.
After he captured the UFC interim welterweight title in 2018, he was invited to the White House, where he and UFC President Dana White visited with the President. Roughly a year later, Trump’s sons and the First Lady, Melania Trump, attended the welterweight’s fight with Robbie Lawler, and were surely pleased when he picked up a lopsided unanimous decision win over the former champion.
This year, Covington has become even closer with Trump.
Earlier this month, Covington attended a Trump function with White and two other UFC stars in Henry Cejudo and Justin Gaethje. Less than a week later, after Covington defeated Tyron Woodley in the main event of UFC Vegas 11, he received a personal phone call from the President, who congratulated him on his victory.
“You are a great fighter man,” Trump told Covington on the call, which could be heard on speakerphone on the UFC Vegas 11 broadcast. “I’ll tell you man, you make it look so easy. I don’t know how the heck you do that. Congratulations, I wanted to watch that fight tonight. I wanted to watch it and you were great.”
“Thank you so much Mr. President,” Covington responded. “You gave me the drive and energy when you shook my hand on Sunday at your rally and it doesn’t matter if King Kong was in front of me, I was not going to lose after getting to shake your hand.”
What do you think of Colby Covington rubbing shoulders with Donald Trump?