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‘Trump Nation in the house!’ - Cejudo, Gaethje, Covington, White support campaign event; Trump promotes UFC

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Donald Trump had a campaign event in Nevada, and among the big crowd gathered to support the US President were several UFC personalities. UFC President Dana White was with fighters Justin Gaethje, Henry Cejudo and Colby Covington and were special guests for the event.

Trump gave high praise for White, who he called “so smart, so tough, so cunning,” and boasted about how he helped the UFC early on and was part of building and eventually selling the UFC for four billion dollars.

Related: Conservative Cagefighting: How the UFC became fashionable among the American right

“I gave (Dana White) a place a long time ago,” Trump said about letting UFC use his venue. “All I know, is just like we have outside, we had lines. I was like ‘what the hell is going on here, Dana? This place is packed!’ We were packed, we had thousands of people.

“I was so nice, I said ‘let’s do it again, Dana.’ We did it again, and again, and again, and it became the UFC. And he sold it, and had a big chunk of it, and he got four billion dollars — what he sold it, four billion! That’s not too bad, Dana!

“He’s an incredible guy, and he also loves his fighters. He wants to take care of his fighters, and he brought some of them, among the best.”

The UFC fighters in attendance were also mentioned and given praise by the sitting President during his speech for having “a lot of muscles” and “a lot of genius.”

Cejudo and Gaethje sat next to White, and the fighters happily took photos and videos from the front row of the campaign event. The former two division champion posed with Gaethje and repeatedly showed their proud support for “Trump Nation.”

White, and by extension the UFC, has gone all in campaigning for Trump’s re-election recently. The President has returned the favor by not only giving them high praise during this event, but by also trying to promote the UFC’s upcoming events.

Trump mentioned Gaethje’s upcoming title bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov, saying he has “a tremendous fight coming up against the number one rated pound-for-pound fighter” and that “we’re going to be watching. It’s right before the election, but we’re going to be watching it, okay? I’ll be watching. You better believe it. It’s going to be an incredible fight.”

The President also shot a backstage video with Covington, saying he will be watching his upcoming fight with Tyron Woodley this weekend.