Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White confirmed that he is in talks with FBI Director Kash Patel about training federal agents in combat techniques.
White addressed the rumors on Fox News’s My View with Lara Trump surrounding the UFC’s involvement in the FBI. President Donald Trump nominated Patel, who floated the idea among his many to improve the agency, which has already reported an increased application pool of over 5,500 last month.
“For people who don’t know, UFC fighters have been training law enforcement, military guys for years. So when you talk about hand-to-hand combat, these guys should know jujitsu, and they should know Muay Thai and all the different things that are the basics of mixed martial arts,” White said. “Everybody wants to make everything controversial. There’s nothing controversial about it. All of these guys should be trained in that, and they should all be in shape and be able to defend themselves, so Kash Patel was serious when he said that and we have talked about it.”
The FBI has reported 10,000 new applications to its agency between January and March. Trump picked Patel in November of last year. At that point, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray still had three years left in his term, but stepped down.
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Trump has long supported White, with the CEO citing their friendship blooming in 2001 when Trump lent a venue for the UFC at a time that White claimed the sport had a “horrible stigma.” Ever since, the pair have long attended fights together, sitting Octagon-side.
Most recently, Trump attended Saturday’s fight in Miami, Florida. Patel was also notably in attendance, along with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, senior adviser Elon Musk, along with his son X.
