Donald Trump has personally requested a UFC 322 star to be on the White House card.
UFC 322 takes centre stage this weekend as two huge title fights take place at Madison Square Garden, including the welterweight championship bout between Jack Della Maddalena and Islam Makhachev.
Top welterweight contenders are also in action in New York City as Sean Brady faces Michael Morales and Leon Edwards takes on Carlos Prates.
The prelims are loaded, too, with Roman Kopylov meeting Gregory Rodrigues, not to mention Bo Nickal vs. Rodolfo Vieira.
Advert
Nickal will be aiming to bounce back from his crushing defeat to Reinier de Ridder, who secured a second-round stoppage victory in their May bout.
A victory over Brazil's Vieira would not only put Nickal's career back on track but also secure his spot at next year's proposed UFC card at the White House.
That's because the American middleweight has already spoken to US president Trump about competing at the White House.
Nickal claims Trump wants him on the show and revealed his involvement is a 'done deal'.
"I'm planning on being on that card. That's history. That's exciting. That's something that I feel I would just be absolutely ecstatic and grateful to be a part of," he said on The Ariel Helwani Show last month.
"I got to take care of business and yeah, I mean, I've talked with president Trump. He wants me on the card.
"So, I'm sure that if things line up, we'll make it happen."
On his conversation with Trump, Nickal added: "What ended up happening, I was on FOX promoting the RAF (Real American Freestyle) event and he called me up and sent me some encouragement and we talked about the card for a second, but I told him that you know, I wanted to get on it and he said; 'Done deal'.
"So, I'm sure him and Dana [White] obviously very close. He puts a good word on my behalf, then it's probably putting me in a good position."
Nickal won four UFC fights in a row after coming through Dana White's Contender Series.
He beat Jamie Pickett, Val Woodburn, Cody Brundage and Paul Craig before running into De Ridder.
Topics: Donald Trump, UFC
Nasir Jabbar