Colby Covington attends first presidential debate as guest of Donald Trump

UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington’s ties to President Donald Trump only grew stronger Tuesday night.

Fresh off his victory over Tyron Woodley in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 36 on Sept. 19, Covington attended the first debate of the 2020 campaign season as a guest of the president.

Covington was on hand for the debate between Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, which was held at the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion on the campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Covington has been an outspoken supporter of Trump throughout his rise up the UFC ranks and is rarely seen in public without wearing one of Trump’s trademarked red caps. In August 2018, while holding the UFC interim championship, Covington visited Trump at the White House.

The relationship has only grown closer in recent weeks as the campaign has heated up. Covington was part of a contingent of UFC fighters, which included company president Dana White, at a Trump campaign rally Sept. 13 in Henderson, Nev.

Then, after Covington finished Woodley via fifth-round TKO six days later, Woodley fielded a phone call live on ESPN+ from Trump, who told him, “I’m your fan; you’re my fan. Two of a kind.” Covington ignited controversy later that night by calling Woodley a “communist” and referring to Black Lives Matter members as “criminals.”