Justin Gaethje was among the UFC fighters present at a training seminar for the FBI.
Photograph: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC From the Octagon to Quantico: UFC teaching the FBI to fight is its latest tie to Trump world The mixed martial arts organization has had links to the US president for years.
Now it could be involved in training federal agents In the lead-up to UFC Freedom 250 – the cagefighting spectacle 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 handful of UFC fighters would visit the bureau for an exclusive training seminar for federal agents.
Taking place at the FBI Special Agent Academy in Quantico, Virginia, the March seminar put roughly 300 federal agents and academy students through specialized hand-to-hand combat training with seven past and current UFC fighters, including former middleweight champion Chris Weidman, who was pictured giving attendees advice on warding off attackers.
The two-day seminar included photo-ops with the fighters, who wore branded UFC-FBI training gear.
FBI director Kash Patel also posed for photos with federal agents, and appeared to be handing out signed headshots of himself.
“[UFC CEO] Dana White has changed the game in the mixed martial arts industry and we’re extremely honored to be partnered with him, the professionals, and the UFC,” Patel said in the UFC press release.
“We are grateful for their shared love of our nation, so that we can better defend her.” Now, six months after the initial seminar, the FBI appears to be in the process of awarding the UFC an exclusive contract to train agents in mixed martial arts, further cementing the relationship between the fighting organization and the Trump administration.
In September, the bureau filed a Sole Source Justification form, a document that allows the government to award contracts without considering bids from other companies.
The bureau claimed that the UFC was “uniquely qualified” to provide these services, noting in the form that “the trainers provided by UFC have the skills necessary to instruct striking techniques, grappling/takedowns, weapon defense, ground control, as well as conditioning to the standard that the FBI expects and requires.” The document says that the exclusive contract would be limited to a single year, while a potential long-term contract would be open to competitive bidding following “market research.” The exact sum that the FBI plans to pay the UFC is not disclosed.
The FBI claims the UFC collaboration is part of an initiative to provide innovative training for its agents, but it also appears to be a part of the sustained consolidation of the UFC-Trump alliance.
Over the past decade, the UFC has emerged as one of Trump’s most influential and reliable partners.
The promotion’s owner, Ari Emanuel, was once Trump’s agent and has helped steer the UFC’s rightward shift.
White is a close friend of the president, and has stumped for him over the course of three presidential campaigns.
White also claimed responsibility for Trump’s media strategy to bypass traditional media in favor of alternative platforms within the “manosphere” catering to young men – a course of action that helped him secure reelection in November 2024.
The UFC has also gone to great lengths to platform Trump and his political agenda.
The organization produced a propaganda documentary on Trump called Combatant-in-Chief, which perpetuated the lie that Trump was instrumental to the UFC’s survival during a dark period in its history.
Trump welcomed the attention, basking in the admiration of the UFC’s conservative-leaning male audience.
He cultivated relationships with fighters, leveraging their support to portray himself as a symbolic strongman.
He has embraced the UFC’s culture of defiance, machismo and spectacle to help buttress his image as a rebel against liberal norms.
Since then, the UFC has been rewarded handsomely for its loyalty, not least by becoming the first professional sports brand to host an event at the White House – a propaganda spectacle that blended patriotism with bloodlust for a night of authoritarian theatre.
The Trump administration has also formalized its relationship with the UFC by signing a memorandum of understanding with the US Department of State to begin “sports diplomacy” initiatives, further integrating the promotion into official government policy and soft power strategy.
The UFC also began a sponsorship deal with Anduril, a controversial defense tech start-up known for developing AI-powered war machines and sentry towers used to survey the US-Mexico border.
Anduril happens to be a key beneficiary of the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to reindustrialize the US military.
The UFC continues to benefit from its allegiance to Trump, 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, the Canadian military organized jiu-jitsu seminars for various units.
Gulf states such as the UAE incorporate Brazilian jiu-jitsu practice in their military and police training.
Several FBI agents also have experience with 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 at the IBJJF (International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation) World No-Gi Championship.
But, even given that history, the FBI’s UFC partnership reeks of favoritism.
While it remains unclear how the training program will be structured or which fighters will be selected to lead the seminars, it is worth noting that several of the UFC fighters who took part in the training seminar in March 2026 were affiliated with the Trump administration, or with Patel personally.
For example, Former UFC fighter Jorge Masvidal headlined a “Fighters Against Socialism” tour across Florida alongside Donald Trump Jr ahead of the 2020 election.
Another trainer at the March seminar, UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje, stumped for Trump on numerous occasions, including at the 2026 midterm convention in Dallas, where he urged Republicans to vote with the same gusto they did in 2024.
Several of the fighters at the training seminar were also managed by Ali Abdelaziz, a controversial figure in the sport who once worked as an informant for the FBI and the New York Police Department.
He was recruited to work undercover collecting intelligence on a terrorism-linked organization named Muslims of the Americas but his covert relationship with the US government was eventually severed when agents reportedly had suspicions about his reliability.
Despite his controversial past, Abdelaziz emerged as one of the most influential managers in mixed martial arts, with a roster of clients packed with past and current UFC champions.
He also established relationships with Maga operatives like Richard Grenell, who served as acting director of national intelligence under Trump in 2020, as well as with Patel.
Abdelaziz used his position as a manager and public figure to campaign for Patel to land the FBI director role, even utilizing his roster of fighters’ social media accounts to spread the word.
He later attended Patel’s Senate confirmation hearing and was present at the joint UFC-FBI training seminar.
Last month, Abdelaziz was pictured partying with the FBI director at the wedding for Trump’s former lawyer Alina Habba – despite once being suspected of being a double agent by the same federal agency that Patel now runs.
While Patel may continue to make a case for a partnership with the UFC, the truth is that this is merely the latest example of how MMA – and the UFC in particular – have become deeply intertwined with US politics, especially among Republicans eager to bask in the reflected glory of the literal tough guys they’re bringing into the fold.
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