UFC White House card's Bo Nickal no stranger to the president

WASHINGTON — UFC middleweight standout Bo Nickal isn’t going to be intimidated fighting in front of the president Sunday on the South Lawn of the White House.

He’s spent plenty of time with Donald Trump.

Nickal, who will fight Kyle Daukaus on the UFC Freedom 250 card, first met Trump when he attended a White House event with several collegiate athletes who had won national titles.

“He kind of went through, said hello to all the teams and took pictures, but when he got to us wrestlers, he was all excited,” Nickal recalls. “He talked to us for probably 10 or 15 minutes, just chatting. The Secret Service was trying to usher him along to the next team, but he didn’t want to leave. He wanted to hang out with us, which was cool.”

Trump then invited Nickal and some of the other wrestlers back to the Oval Office to continue their conversation.

Nickal will be back on the property Sunday to compete in a historic and controversial event in a temporary venue that will hold 4,300 attendees. The seven-fight card, which is part of America’s 250th anniversary celebration and will take place on Trump’s 80th birthday, will stream live on Paramount-Plus at 5 p.m.

The UFC’s incredibly rare outdoor event could be affected by both heat and potential storms in the area, but Dana White insists the show will go on.

Nickal will likely be one of Trump’s favorites on the card, though the president is a devoted fan of the sport.

“He put in a good word for me to get on this card,” Nickal said of Trump. “Our relationship has been unique. I’ve appreciated it a lot because obviously as somebody who is as powerful and busy as him, he does take time out of his day to give me a call every once in awhile. I’ve been golfing with him a couple times. It’s surreal to be able to do that.

“I grew up in a town of 5,000 people in Wyoming. To be able to hang out with the president is unbelievable. I’m really grateful, and I appreciate how genuine and authentic he is all the time. I’m just pumped to be part of this event. It’s really cool.”

Nickal, who won three national wrestling titles at Penn State, will look to take advantage of the massive platform to continue to get back on track. He entered the UFC as one of the most-hyped prospects in the organization’s history and laid waste to the first seven opponents of his pro career before a stunning knee to the body knockout loss against Reinier de Ridder last May.

Nickal bounced back with an impressive head kick knockout of Rodolfo Vieira in November and was told immediately after the fight his next bout would be on the White House card.

“My whole life and whole career have been big moments, and they always continue to get bigger and more exciting, and this is another one of those,” he said. “I don’t really try to minimize it or diminish it at all. It’s something that’s exciting. The bigger the moment, the better I’m going to perform.”

Nickal is not the only favorite of the president on the card, however.

Trump was sitting cageside with UFC President and CEO Dana White at April’s UFC 327 card in Miami when he asked why fan-favorite Derrick Lewis had not been scheduled for the White House event.

Later that evening, fellow heavyweight Josh Hokit scored an impressive win, and White called Lewis and put him on the phone with Trump, booking a bout between Lewis and Hokit on the spot.

Lewis quipped that he’s excited because the last time he fought outside he did 3 1/2 years in prison, a reference to his sentence for his involvement in a street fight as a teenager in Texas.

“The significance of (being on the card) is like, life is like a movie,” he said. “If you hear my story, know everything that I’ve been through, coming from the bottom of everything you could really think of, going all the way to the top, it’s crazy. Somebody needs to write a book about my life.”

Those fights will lead up to a pair of featured championship bouts.

Alex Pereira will fight Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title with a chance to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold belts in three different weight classes.

“I don’t think he’ll be my GOAT. I think he’ll be everyone’s GOAT,” White said when asked if he believes that would make Pereira the best fighter in the organization’s history. “If he wins a third belt on Sunday, it would be tough to argue.”

Ilia Topuria will defend the lightweight title against interim champ Justin Gaethje in the main event, a bout that was ratcheted up in intensity at Friday night’s news conference on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial when Topuria shoved Gaethje.

“Look at this beautiful view, and you want to act like an (expletive) animal?” Gaethje said. “You’re an emotional little animal.”

Sunday night, they will fight in front of the White House.