UFC fighters trained FBI agents at Quantico in March as bureau moves toward exclusive contract

In March, seven past and current UFC fighters delivered a two-day hand-to-hand combat seminar to roughly 300 federal agents and academy students at the FBI Special Agent Academy in Quantico, Virginia, an event organised in the lead-up to UFC Freedom 250 on the White House South Lawn marking Donald Trump’s 80th birthday this summer.

The seminar included photo opportunities and the fighters wore branded UFC-FBI training gear; former middleweight champion Chris Weidman was pictured advising attendees on warding off attackers. FBI director Kash Patel also posed for photographs and appeared to be handing out signed headshots. “[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.”

Six months after the Quantico seminar, the FBI appears to be in the process of awarding the UFC an exclusive contract to train agents: in September the bureau filed a Sole Source Justification form, which allows the government to award contracts without considering bids from other companies. The filing describes UFC as “uniquely qualified” and states 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 an exclusive contract would be limited to a single year and that any potential long-term contract would be opened to competitive bidding following “market research”; the exact sum the FBI plans to pay the UFC is not disclosed.

The Quantico seminar is the latest episode in a longer pattern of ties between the UFC and Donald Trump’s political circle. The article says the promotion’s owner, Ari Emanuel, was once Trump’s agent and the organisation has shifted rightward; Dana White is described as a close friend of the president who has stumped for him over three presidential campaigns. The piece also reports White claimed responsibility for Trump’s media strategy to bypass traditional media in favour of alternative platforms within the “manosphere” catering to young men, a course of action it says helped secure his reelection in November 2024.

The organisation has also used its platforms to promote Trump, producing a documentary titled Combatant-in-Chief which the article says perpetuated the claim that Trump was instrumental to the UFC’s survival. The UFC became the first professional sports brand to host an event at the White House, and the Trump administration signed a memorandum of understanding with the US Department of State to begin “sports diplomacy” initiatives, according to the article.

The article records additional commercial and defence ties, noting the UFC began a sponsorship deal with Anduril and describing Anduril as a defence tech start-up known for developing AI-powered war machines and sentry towers used to survey the US–Mexico border; it adds that Anduril is a key beneficiary of the Trump administration’s effort to reindustrialize the US military.

The piece places the UFC–FBI collaboration alongside other examples of unarmed combat training used by security forces worldwide, citing 2024 jiu-jitsu seminars organised by the Canadian military and the incorporation of Brazilian jiu-jitsu into Gulf state military and police training. It also notes that several FBI agents have experience with unarmed combat, including retired agent George Piro, who led the FBI’s interrogation of Saddam Hussein and, after retiring, won his division at the IBJJF World No-Gi Championship.

The article details political affiliations of some participants and intermediaries: it says former UFC fighter Jorge Masvidal headlined a “Fighters Against Socialism” tour across Florida alongside Donald Trump Jr ahead of the 2020 election, and that lightweight champion Justin Gaethje stumped for Trump on numerous occasions, including at the 2026 midterm convention in Dallas. It also documents manager Ali Abdelaziz’s controversial past, reporting he once worked as an informant for the FBI and the New York Police Department, was recruited to work undercover collecting intelligence on an organisation named Muslims of the Americas, and that his covert relationship with the US government was eventually severed when agents reportedly had suspicions about his reliability. The article says Abdelaziz later became an influential manager with a roster of past and current UFC champions, established relationships with Richard Grenell and Kash Patel, campaigned for Patel to land the FBI director role using fighters’ social media accounts, attended Patel’s Senate confirmation hearing, was present at the joint UFC–FBI seminar, and was pictured partying with Patel at the wedding of Alina Habba.

With the Sole Source Justification filed in September, the immediate next step described in the article is the bureau’s apparent move to award an exclusive, one-year contract to the UFC, while any longer-term arrangement would be expected to proceed through competitive bidding after “market research”; the article notes the exact financial terms of the proposed arrangement have not been disclosed.