UFC Unaware of Talks Between Dana White, FBI Head Patel

One day after new FBI director Kash Patel reportedly told colleagues he’d like the agency to work with the UFC to train agents, a representative for the MMA company said he was unaware of any formal conversations between the two sides.

UFC president and CEO Dana White has close ties to members of the Trump administration, including Patel, who served in Trump’s first administration and lives in Las Vegas, where UFC is based.

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The UFC spokesman declined to comment on whether UFC would be open to assisting the government if asked. A representative for the FBI declined to comment.

Patel, who was sworn in last week, broached the topic Wednesday in a call with the heads of the FBI’s 55 field offices, according to an ABC News report. The agency has previously brought in martial arts experts to help train athletes, the report said, though its unclear if UFC played any role in those instances.

White and Trump have a history that goes back two decades. In 2001, Trump invited UFC to stage an event at his Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., during a period when the league was so outcast even Las Vegas forbid its brand of MMA to be performed, according to Business Insider. Trump mentioned this during his election victory speech in November, when White joined him on stage.

Trump later had UFC fighter Tito Ortiz on The Apprentice and, in more recent years made numerous appearances at UFC events. White, for his part, spoke at the 2016 GOP convention and campaigned for Trump in both 2020 and 2024.

The FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., is where agents in training study and meet physical fitness standards. Agents are scored on four or five physical tests, depending on intended role, according to the agency’s job application guide. They include how many sit-ups can be done in one minute, speed on a 300-meter sprint, speed over a 1.5-mile run, the maximum number of pushups without being timed, and for some trainees, pull-ups, also without being timed. All of those must be done with no more than five minutes rest between events. Candidates must be between 23 and 37 years old, though military veterans may qualify for an age waiver.

The process has non-physical elements as well. Over the 18-week course, agents study firearms for at least 100 hours, learn operational and investigative skills and focus on academics including on leadership forensics, ethics, including visits to the Holocaust Museum and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial “to gain perspective on civic equality,” according to the FBI’s website.

Prior to his appointment to the FBI, Patel served in various positions during Trump’s first administration. More recently he was on the board of the parent of Truth Social, the Trump-backed social media platform.

UFC is owned by TKO (NYSE: TKO), which also includes WWE, PBR and a handful of other assets previously owned by Endeavor.

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