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It isn’t often we get to see New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick crack a smile, but he was cheesing from ear to ear on Wednesday after having a championship belt wrapped around his waist by UFC President Dana White.
The Patriots are currently in Las Vegas participating in joint team practices with the Las Vegas Raiders ahead of Friday night’s preseason finale. As every fight fan knows, Las Vegas is the fight capital of the world, and there is no bigger MMA promoter than White, who just so happened to be a longtime Tom Brady and Patriots fan.
His allegiance has obviously changed now with the Raiders coming to Las Vegas. However, he still seemed eager to crown Belichick as an honorary champion.
And honestly, it’s the happiest the Patriots coach has looked in years.
Bill Belichick just won a UFC title #Patriots pic.twitter.com/YI9mqcjUZ9
— Brendan Fitzgerald (@BrendanFitzTV) August 24, 2022
White recently revealed he was close to helping the Raiders work out a deal that would have brought Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski both to Las Vegas in 2020.
The city never got Brady and Gronkowski, but they did get Patriots former longtime offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as a head coach. We’ll see if Belichick can add a preseason win over McDaniels to his resume, along with his eight Super Bowl rings and UFC title.