New FBI Director Kash Patel has championed a new partnership between the bureau and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the mixed martial arts league led by CEO Dana White, a supporter of President Trump.
The bureau chief’s intent is to improve the physical fitness of agents with the help of this new partnership. Earlier in the week, Patel already informed the FBI’s 55 branch offices by phone about his intentions. At present, the UFC’s role in this possible partnership with the bureau has not yet been specified, nor what kind of training the agents might go through.
During the weekly call, the new director also sought to calm tempers among officials after the Justice Department last month requested a list of the thousands of agents who cooperated in the investigation regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on Capitol Hill.
Patel also praised the FBI’s work in fighting crime and threats to national security and asked the bureau’s agents to give him a chance to prove himself as a new leader. At the same time, he also warned them that he will not tolerate “leaks” or other forms of insubordination.
The new director’s idea of starting a partnership with the well-known mixed martial arts league surprised officials themselves. The UFC is based in Las Vegs, the city where Patel currently resides. Its CEO, Dana White, whose wealth totals several hundred million dollars, has long been a strong supporter of President Trump, and was a major donor to his last presidential campaign.
In November, shortly after the polls closed, White stood alongside the MAGA leader on the stage from which the latter gave his first speech as president-elect. On that occasion, Trump recalled helping White a few years ago when no one else was willing to host UFC bouts.
A few days later, the president was a guest at the match event organized by the league at Madison Square Garden in New York, where he sat in the front row, in the company of the ever-present Musk and the CEO himself. Now the relationship between the administration and the UFC could grow stronger, with the organization making its training programs available to federal agents.
According to some former officials, the bureau could benefit significantly from this possible collaboration. In the recent past, some FBI bureaus had already integrated martial arts techniques into their training programs.
However, a partnership with one of the world’s best-known fighting leagues would certainly represent a first.
