Presidential Candidate Ben Carson Meets with Vitor Belfort Before Debate

A little pre-debate prep with former #UFC Light Heavyweight Champ @vitorbelfort and team. Great sparring partner! pic.twitter.com/IZJSAC1M3M

— Dr. Ben Carson (@RealBenCarson) October 27, 2015

Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson apparently has an unlikely supporter in former UFC champion Vitor Belfort.

Carson met with Belfort on Tuesday and posted a picture of the encounter to his Twitter account. The GOP debate is scheduled to take place on Wednesday in Colorado.

“A little pre-debate prep with former UFC light heavyweight champ Vitor Belfort and team. Great sparring partner!” Carson wrote.

“I was so happy to meet a guy like him,” Belfort told UFC.com. “He’s the real deal.”

Belfort plans on voting for Carson should he become the Republican party’s nominee in 2016, according to UFC.com.

“We admire each other and I think he represents a level of leadership that doesn’t have an agenda,” Belfort said. “The problem of all leadership has always been what do I have to accomplish in terms of people that I owe things to? I think he doesn’t owe anything to anybody. He just has a vision, a passion, and I think people connect to him because of that. Simplicity is always best.”

Carson is a former neurosurgeon who twice received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work. Belfort, meanwhile, is currently finishing up camp for a third meeting with Dan Henderson at UFC Fight Night in Sao Paulo on Nov. 7.

.@RealBenCarson receives an endorsement from former UFC fighter @vitorbelfort pic.twitter.com/N3wAcposBF

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 27, 2015