Donald Trump, a close friend of Dana White and a big fan of UFC, was present at the recently concluded UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden. Now, with Colby Covington posting a video message to Leon Edwards, fans are clamoring for a walkout with Donald Trump at UFC 296.
UFC 296 is the final PPV of 2024 and will be headlined by Colby Covington and Leon Edwards at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Covington is one of the favorite fighters of the former US President, along with his bitter rival, Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal.
Colby Covington sends a message to Leon Edwards
Leon Edwards won the welterweight title beating Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 in a come from behind last round head kick KO. The fight was a rematch of their initial encounter in the early days of their UFC career. In the trilogy at UFC 286, Edwards successfully defended the title with a majority decision victory.
Covington weighed in as a backup for the event and was promised a title shot by Dana White, the UFC CEO. Edwards was originally against the idea of fighting Covington whose last victory was against Jorge Masvidal. Nevertheless, the UFC set up the matchup for December of 2023. Preluding the bout, Covington recently posted on Instagram with a message for Edwards.
Covington captioned the video, “Americas Champ Returns in 3 Weeks #ufc296 🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸”. Moreover, in the video, he made some historical references to the American Independence from the British Empire. This is due to Edwards being a Brit and Covington being an American. Edwards is a slight betting favorite for the bout but many in the MMA community picked Covington as a tougher matchup for Edwards than Usman.
Colby Covington lost to Usman in his previous two attempts to grab the welterweight title whereas Edwards is 2-1 against Usman and his past two fights have been victories over Usman. Usman suffered a third consecutive loss after facing Khamazat Chimaev in a short-notice fight at UFC 294.
Fans want Covington to walkout with Donald Trump
Donald Trump’s relationship with Dana White and the UFC goes way back to when the promotion was growing, and the sport was banned in many states in the USA. Ever since UFC 30, when the Trump Taj Mahal hosted the event, Trump has been a very good friend of Dana White, and vice versa. White even spoke at the Republican National Convention for Trump.
Trump is also a favorite among many UFC fighters. In addition to Covington and Masvidal, Beneil Dariush, Justin Gaethje, and Ali Abdel Aziz are very vocal about supporting the former US President. Nevertheless, Covington seems to be the hardcore supporter of the former President. Colby Covington visited the White House when Trump was in office, after winning the interim welterweight title against Rafael Dos Anjos.
Unfortunately, he was stripped of the title, and Usman fought the then undisputed champion Tyron Woodley in his stead and became the champion. Nevertheless, Covington’s new video on Instagram has fans clamoring for him to walk out with Trump beside him. Apparently, it was the NELK boys who first suggested the idea. They are also very vocal supporters of the former US President.
Do you think Colby Covington becomes the welterweight champion at UFC 296? Leave your prediction below!
