In the lead-up to UFC Freedom 250 – a show that took place on the South Lawn of the White House to mark Donald Trump’s 80th birthday this past summer – the FBI announced that a few fighters would visit the UFC office for an exclusive seminar for federal agents.
While at the FBI Special Agent Academy in Quantico, Virginia, in a March seminar, approximately 300 federal agents and academic students underwent special hand-to-hand combat training with seven past and current UFC fighters, including former heavyweight champion Chris Weidman, who was pictured giving attendees advice on fending off attackers.
The two-day seminar included photo ops among the fighters, who were wearing UFC-FBI training gear. FBI director Kash Patel also posed for photos with federal agents, and was seen handing out the heads of the signatories.
“[UFC CEO] Dana White has changed the game in the mixed martial arts industry and to be associated with him, the professionals, and the UFC Patel, “We are grateful for the shared love of our country.”
Already six months later, the FBI appears to be in the process of terminating the UFC’s exclusive contract to train officers in mixed martial arts, further establishing ties between the fighting company and the Trump administration.
In September, the bureau filed a Sole Source Justification form, a document that allows the government to subsidize contracts unless it considers bids from other companies. The bureau asserted that the UFC is “uniquely qualified” to perform these duties, noting in the form that “UFC officers are equipped with the skills necessary to train techniques, grappling/takedowns, defensive weapons, ground control, and standard conditions that the FBI expects and requires.”
The document says the exclusive contract is limited to one year, with a potential long-term contract open to competitive bidding following a “market investigation”. The total amount that the FBI plans to pay the UFC has not been disclosed.
The FBI claims that the UFC’s cooperation is part of an effort to provide training to its agents, but it also appears to be part of a consolidation of the UFC-Trump-backed alliance.
Over the past decade, the UFC has emerged as one of Trump’s most influential and reliable allies. The promotion’s owner, Ari Emanuel, was once Trump’s manager and helped direct the shift to the UFC. White is a close friend of the president and has endorsed him over the course of three presidential campaigns. White also took responsibility for Trump’s claims that the media were bypassing traditional media in favor of alternative platforms within the “manosphere” meeting young people – an action that helped secure his re-election in November 2024.
The UFC has also gone to great lengths to support Trump’s platform and his political agenda. The organization produced a documentary spread on Trump called The Fighter-in-Chief, which perpetuated Trump’s lies as instrumental to the UFC’s survival during a dark period in its history. Trump received attention, basking in the admiration of the conservative-leaning male audience of the UFC. He cultivated relations with the fighters, raising their support to portray himself as a symbolic hero. The cult of defiance, machismo and spectacle has embraced the UFC to support its image as a rebel against liberal norms.
Since then, the UFC has been handsomely rewarded for its loyalty, not least by becoming the first professional sports brand to host an event at the White House – a spectacle mixed with the blood of public authority.
The Trump administration has formalized its relationship with the UFC, writing a memorandum of understanding with the Department of State to begin “sports ambassadors” initiatives, further integrating the promotion into official government and soft power strategies. The UFC has also begun sponsorship negotiations with Anduril, a controversial defense tech startup known for its AI-powered war machines and surveillance towers used on the US-Mexico border. Anduril happens to be a key beneficiary of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to restore the US military.
The UFC continues to benefit from Trump’s loyalty, most recently through the FBI training program.
The UFC-FBI program is far from unique: military and police forces around the world have undergone unarmed combat training. In 2024, Canadian military jiu-jitsu seminars organized various units. Gulf claims that the UAE is incorporating Brazilian jiu-jitsu into military and police training. Several FBI agents also experienced unarmed combat, including retired agent George Piro, who led the FBI’s interrogation of Saddam Hussein. After retiring from the bureau, Piro won his division in the IBJJF (International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation) World No-Gi Championship.
But, even given that history, the FBI’s association is giving way to the UFC’s favoritism. While it remains unclear how the training will be organized or which fighters will be selected to lead the seminars, it should be noted that several of the UFC fighters who attended the training seminar in March 2026 are affiliated with the Trump administration, or with Patel personally. For example, former UFC fighter Jorge Masvidal has lined up a “fighters against socialism” sign to march across Florida alongside Donald Trump Jr before the 2020 election. Another trainer at the seminar in March, UFC lightweight announcer Justin Gaethje, who has included Trump on numerous occasions, came to the convention in Dallas for the 2026 midterms, where he urged Republicans to vote with the same gusto they did in 2024.
Several of the fighters at the training seminar were also treated by Ali Abdelaziz, a controversial figure in the game who once worked as an informant for the FBI and the New York Police. He was recruited to go undercover collecting intelligence on a terrorism-linked organization called Muslim America, but the covert relationship with the US government was eventually severed when agents reportedly became suspicious of his credibility.
Despite his controversial past, Abdelaziz has emerged as one of the most influential managers in mixed martial arts, with a client list filled with recent and current UFC champions. He also established relationships with Maga operatives such as Richard Grenell, who is acting director of national intelligence under Trump in 2020, as well as with Patel. Abdelaziz used his position as an agent and public figure to campaign for Patel to step down as FBI director, even using a number of combatants on social media to spread the word. He later attended Patel’s Senate confirmation hearing and participated in a joint UFC-FBI training seminar. Last month, Abdelaziz was pictured at a wedding party with the FBI director for Trump’s former lawyer Alina Habba – even though he was once suspected of being a double agent by the same federal agent that Patel is currently on the run from.
While Patel may continue to make the case for a partnership with the UFC, the truth is that this is just the latest example of how MMA – and the UFC in particular – are deeply intertwined with US politicians, especially Republicans, to aspire to the reflected glory of the literal tough guys they bring into the fold.