“A couple weeks ago, I got to come to a town meeting here in Las Vegas, got to meet Bernie. And right away, as soon as I could see into his eyes, I could see that the man was a real fighter.” –@MoTownPhenom pic.twitter.com/xXkTbhcNeu
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) December 22, 2019
Colby Covington isn’t the only UFC fighter showing support for a prominent political figure.
UFC lightweight Kevin Lee appeared at a rally for Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Saturday in Las Vegas. Lee also previously voiced support for Sanders following his knockout of Gregor Gillespie at UFC 244, where President Donald Trump was in attendance.
Sanders is running for U.S. President in 2020 after also campaigning in 2016.
“A couple weeks ago I got to come to a town meeting here in Las Vegas, got to meet Bernie and right away as soon as I could see into his eyes, I could see that man was a real fighter,” Lee said. In addition to praising Sanders, Lee also addressed Covington’s loss to Kamaru Usman in the UFC 245 headliner on Dec. 14. Covington, who has been an outspoken Trump supporter and has visited the White House, suffered a fifth-round technical knockout and a broken jaw in the welterweight title bout.
“I don’t know how many people saw the fight last week. President Trump’s boy] getting knocked out in the title fight,” Lee said. “We all gonna take our lumps but this man ran out the back door of T-Mobile Arena and I’m not ashamed to stand up here and say that I fought in that same arena in 2017 for my first world title and I lost it. I’m not ashamed to say that.
“But I stood up, I said my mistakes, my mama was sitting front row again, I said what I had to correct and then I’m getting ready to fight for my next one in 2020.”
Lee is referencing his third-round submission loss to Tony Ferguson for interim lightweight gold at UFC 216 on Oct. 7, 2017. On his Instagram account, Lee posted a photo of himself with Sanders along with a plea to his next targeted opponent, Islam Makhachev.
“[Dana White] let’s make this fight happen in April in Brooklyn,” Lee wrote. “[Islam Makhachev] what’s the hold up?”
The Las Vegas-based promotion has scheduled a pay-per-view event for April 18 in Brooklyn that is expected to be headlined by a lightweight championship duel between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson.