Trump suggests migrants form a fight club

(The Hill) – Former President Trump mused over the weekend about creating an immigrant fighting league to compete with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and characterized migrants as “tough” and “mean” in campaign speeches.

Trump raised the idea at two separate events on Saturday – once at a gathering of Christian conservatives in the nation’s capital and later at a rally in Philadelphia.

“These people are tough. They are so tough,” Trump said in his speech during the Faith and Freedom Coalition event in Washington, DC

In both speeches, Trump recalled that he had presented the idea to UFC boss Dana White.

“I said, ‘Dana, I have an idea that will make you a lot of money. You’re going to start a new migrant fighting league, just for migrants,'” Trump recalled during the rally.

He suggested that the Migrant League champion and the UFC champion could eventually face each other.

“I think the immigrant guy could win, that’s how tough they are. He didn’t like the idea very much, but actually it’s not the worst idea I’ve ever had,” Trump told the Christian group. “These people are tough and they’re mean, nasty.”

Attendees at the event could be heard laughing as Trump considered the idea.

White told media representatives during the UFC Saudi Arabia post-fight press conference that the conversation actually happened as Trump remembered it and he thought it was a joke.

“It was a joke. It was a joke,” White told reporters. “I saw everyone freaking out online. But yes, he said it.”

Trump, 78, is a longtime fan of UFC events and attended a fight night with White earlier this month.

The former president has been criticized for his offensive and inhumane remarks about migrants crossing the southern border, accusing them of “poisoning the blood of the country” and being “rapists” and “terrorists.” Trump and his allies often highlight the arrests of people who have crossed the border illegally for various crimes.

President Biden’s campaign team sharply criticized his opponent’s recent comments about a migrant fighting league. “Trump’s incoherent, confused tirade has shown voters in his own words that he is a threat to our freedoms and too dangerous to let him anywhere near the White House,” the campaign team said in a statement.