President-elect Donald Trump is expected to make a triumphant return to the Big Apple’s Madison Square Garden Saturday night to attend an Ultimate Fighting Championship event.
The trip to MSG, where Trump held a massive rally in his former hometown just two weeks before the Nov. 5 election, comes after he announced a flurry of high-profile picks to staff his incoming administration this week.
Nominations for key government positions so far include Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to serve as his secretary of state, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hi.) as director of national intelligence, and Florida Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) as his National Security Advisor.
A handful of choices, however, have flummoxed members across the aisles. Among them are Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), his attorney general pick who faced a sex-trafficking probe by the House Ethics Committee, and noted vaccine skeptic and brain-worm infested Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of Health and Human Services.
UFC President Dana White is one of Trump’s closest friends, and the 78-year-old Republican will be able to bask in his incoming administration’s nominees with fans of the sport, who see him as the “Combatant in Chief.”
In June, just days after the shocking guilty verdict in his Manhattan “hush money” trial, Trump jetted out to Newark, NJ, to attend the UFC 302 fight at the Prudential Center, where he received thunderous applause from diehard fans.
In the final weeks of the presidential race, meanwhile, UFC stars threw down for the Republican nominee at a Detroit event aimed at swaying Arab American voters for Trump.
Trump last appeared at the World’s Most Famous Arena in late October for a homestretch presidential campaign rally attended by some 20,000 supporters and filled with a star-studded lineup of who’s who in the MAGA world.
Team Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment about his appearance at UFC 309, which will culminate in a headline event between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic for the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
With Post wires
