L: Jeff Bottari/ Getty Images R: Anna Moneymaker/ Getty Images
- Donald Trump said he proposed a "migrant league of fighters" to UFC president Dana White.
- Trump shared his idea at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's conference in Washington.
- "It was a joke," Dana White said. "But yeah, he did say it."
Donald Trump told an audience on Saturday that he had pitched a "migrant league of fighters" to the head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Dana White.
Trump was speaking to Christian conservatives at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" conference in Washington.
"Did anyone ever hear of Dana White?" Trump said at the event. "He's a legend, right?"
"I said, 'Dana, I have an idea," the former president continued. "Why don't you set up a migrant league of fighters and have your regular league of fighters, and then you have the champion of your league — these are the greatest fighters in the world — fight the champion of the migrants. I think the migrant guy might win; that's how tough they are."
"He didn't like that idea too much, but actually it's not the worst idea I've ever had," he added.
President Joe Biden's campaign reacted quickly to criticize the former president's comments.
"Fitting that convicted felon Donald Trump spent his time at a religious conference threatening to round up Latinos, bragging about ripping away Americans' freedoms, and promising to be even more extreme if he regains power," Sarafina Chitika, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said.
"Trump's incoherent, unhinged tirade showed voters in his own words that he is a threat to our freedoms and is too dangerous to be let anywhere near the White House again," she added.
When asked about Trump's comments, White, who has led the UFC since 2001, said: "It was a joke."
"I saw everybody going crazy online. But yeah, he did say it," he added.
Trump has put immigration at the core of his policies since his 2016 presidential campaign and has frequently criticized Biden over the topic in his latest run for the White House.
During his speech at the Faith & Freedom Coalition, Trump repeated a number of dehumanizing terms he has previously used about migrants while campaigning, saying they were "nasty, mean," and "tough."
In a speech in Michigan at the beginning of April, the former president also referred to migrants as "animals" and "not human" as he ramped up his focus on border issues.
Business Insider contacted the Trump campaign for comment.