Donald Trump is a big fan of Bo Nickal.
Though nothing is official, Nickal fully expects to see the future and future President of the United States sitting ringside when he returns to the Octagon this Saturday in Madison Square Garden. The three-time NCAA Division I national champion will face his toughest test to date at UFC 309 when he meets submission specialist Paul Craig.
Over the last few months, Trump has made it a point to bring up his admiration for Nickal in interviews and on social media.
Donald Trump wanted to manage Nickal’s career even before he made the move to MMA
As it turns out, the three-time GOP nominee’s love affair with the former Nittany Lion began back in 2019, long before Nickal stepped foot inside a cage.
Bo Nickal on his relationship with Donald Trump
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— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 11, 2024
“It started in 2019, I won the Nationals and got invited to the White House,” Nickal told Uncrowned. “I told him I was gonna fight, he asked me if I needed a manager and he would manage me for the fights. I was like, ‘I think you’re a little too busy.’ So it kinda started there and after my second fight in the UFC, he was in the crowd and invited me to come golf with him at Bedminster so I flew back to New Jersey that week, we golfed together, and since then he kinda likes me for whatever reason, I don’t know, and of course I loved hanging out with him.
“Loved spending time with him and learning and just talking about stuff. So we’ve hung out a bunch since then” (h/t MMA Mania).
Say what you want about Trump’s complete lack of leadership skills or the ability to form a cohesive sentence, but the man knows fighters.
Maybe once his days of mass deporting immigrants and stripping away the basic human rights of women and trans people are over, he can find himself a new career as a cutthroat MMA manager.
He and Ali Abdelaziz would probably get along very well.
