UFC honcho Dana White took questions after Tuesday’s Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor media event in Los Angeles, and he was asked about his anticipated celebrity guest list for the Aug. 26 boxing match. After first talking about whether Tom Brady will be in attendance, someone asked him about President Donald Trump.
“Funny you say that, but they called me yesterday and I don’t think they’ll come, but they’ll be watching,” White said.
Asked if Trump wanted to come, White said, “100 percent.” But “he feels like he’ll ruin the event if he shows up. Secret Service is gonna have to go through the place, they’ll have to shut down streets and create crazy traffic.”
And that’s something that probably wouldn’t go over well in Las Vegas, which is a run-of-the-mill madhouse on regular weekend nights and a roiling sea of free-spending humanity on fight nights, especially fight nights that involve Mayweather. In January 2012, Mayweather’s attorney asked a Las Vegas judge to delay the 90-day jail term the boxer was scheduled to serve after he pleaded guilty to a 2010 domestic battery incident. The main reason: Mayweather had a fight booked for Cinco de Mayo against Miguel Cotto, and rescheduling it would be a disaster.
The other reason: Mayweather’s attorney told the judge that each of the boxer’s fights bring in more than $100 million to the city.
“In speaking with representatives of the entertainment and hotel industry and Bill Hornbuckle at MGM, I am told that those last seven fights had a $1 billion impact on this community,” Richard Wright told the judge. “This scheduled fight … is worth more than $100 million to this community for a fight like this on Cinco de Mayo.”
The judge delayed Mayweather’s jail term, and, while Trump probably would be less unyielding if he truly wanted to attend Mayweather-McGregor, the former casino owner probably (maybe?) knows better than to upset the apple cart.
As for Brady, the Patriots quarterback hasn’t been afforded Secret Service protection (yet) and thus is more than welcome to attend, though New England does play its all-important third preseason game in Detroit the night before.
“Tom Brady can do whatever he wants. He can get 10 tickets. I’ll give him every front-row [ticket] we have,” White said.
