UFC White House fighter makes emotional Drake request ahead of bout
Aiemann Zahabi made a plea to Drake ahead of his UFC Freedom 250 fight.
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Topics: UFC
Nasir Jabbar
Topics: UFC
A fighter on the UFC Freedom 250 card has issued an emotional plea to rap star Drake ahead of his fight at the White House.
The UFC Freedom 250 card is set, with six fights to take place at the White House.
The stacked card features a UFC lightweight unification clash between undisputed champion Ilia Topuria and interim title holder Justin Gaethje and an interim UFC heavyweight title showdown between Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane.
A pivotal bantamweight bout between Sean O'Malley and Aiemann Zahabi is also set that pits USA against Canada.
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Ahead of the biggest fight of his UFC career, Canada's Zahabi issued a plea to Drake asking if he could walk him out for his White House appearance.
On his fight against ex-UFC bantamweight champion O'Malley, he told Ariel Helwani: "I want to beat Sean O'Malley with an exclamation mark. I want to finish him. It would be incredible to do so... It would be nice to do that in the White House... represent Canada and get that win there. How good would that feel for Canadians to see a Canadian beat an American at the White House? I think it's historic."
Zahabi added: "You know what would be incredible... I'm walking out with GSP (Georges St-Pierre) from the White House, but you know, it'd be even crazier if Drake walked me out from the Oval Office singing 'Started From The Bottom'.
"Drake. If you're out there, I would love it If you could do that. I started from nothing. My parents immigrated here from a war-torn country and I made all the way to the White House. I truly started from the bottom."
In a final plea, the 38-year-old, who has won seven fights in a row, concluded: "Drake, if you're listening, I would love you to come out and perform for us."
The UFC doesn't tend to use musicians to walk out fighters, but it does occur in boxing.
Drake is a UFC fan and joined Conor McGregor on stage for his fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov at the UFC 229 ceremonial weigh-ins.
But given the UFC Freedom 250 is a celebration and billed as a mega-event, the promotion could allow Drake to walk out Zahabi if the artist accepts the request.