Kash Patel Signs Autographs as UFC Fighters Teach New FBI Agents Techniques at First-Ever Ultimate Fighting Training Session

A first-of-its-kind training seminar this weekend brought together mixed martial artists from the UFC and FBI special agent trainees at the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia, for takedown drills, mat rolling, a choke-out demonstration, and photo opportunities with both the fighters and FBI Director Kash Patel, sources tell the Sun.The weekend event was the result of a new partnership between Mr. Patel and the UFC intended to demonstrate how MMA fighters train and “demonstrate specific techniques and tactics, offering a unique perspective to the students as they prepare to enter the field office,” the UFC said in a press release. Among the fighters present were current UFC interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje, lightweight fighter Michael Chandler, and former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, among others. The seminar came at “no cost to the FBI,” an FBI spokesman tells the Sun. The seminar, which lasted from March 14 to March 15, included photo opportunities with fighters like Messrs. Gaethje and Chandler, who were wearing “UFC-FBI”-branded training gear, according to sources familiar with the event. Kash Patel (L) posing with a member of the FBI National Academy at Quantico during the FBI-UFC seminar. InstagramOn Sunday, attendees and fighters participated in “takedown training,” which included a demonstration on how to “choke someone out,” or put someone in a chokehold until they pass out, three people close to the seminar confirmed to the Sun.It’s a big departure from the Biden Justice Department, which in 2021, one year after the death of George Floyd, “explicitly” prohibited the use of chokeholds and carotid restraint techniques when subduing a resisting suspect unless the officer “has a reasonable belief” the subject posed an imminent danger of death or injury to the officer or another person. The seminar had been in the planning stages since February 2025, when Mr. Patel first pitched the idea to the bureau’s 55 field office supervisors of forming a partnership between the FBI and the UFC to bolster agents’ self-defense abilities, according to reports. During that same call, Mr. Patel reportedly credited former FBI co-Deputy Director Dan Bongino for the idea, citing the latter’s love of the UFC and MMA. In April, Mr. Bongino injured his elbow while grappling with an FBI instructor.“The instructor got the best of me, because he’s incredibly talented,” Mr. Bongino said in a post on X after the injury.A photo of FBI Director Kash Patel’s customized sneakers, featuring the Punisher logo. The New York SunThe UFC has close ties to the Trump Administration and to President Trump, who is friends with UFC CEO Dana White. Mr. Trump has attended UFC matches with his inner circle of family members and advisers, and Mr. White introduced him at the 2024 Republican National Convention. The UFC is scheduled to hold its first-ever match on the White House grounds in June.While this weekend’s session marked the first time UFC fighters exclusively trained FBI agents, the FBI has been teaching its agents jiu-jitsu and grappling techniques like “shrimping” — a move that creates enough space for an agent to access his weapon — since the 2000s, former FBI senior officials tell the Sun. In addition to special agent trainees at Quantico, the seminar was open to senior special agents. At least one member of the FBI National Academy Session 297, a 10-week training program for law enforcement professionals from around the United States and the world, was also at the session. That member, United States Air Force Section Chief James Swann, posted pictures of himself while posing with Mr. Patel, who was wearing a UFC-branded baseball cap, after receiving an autographed headshot of the FBI director. “He is a humble individual who speaks highly of his agents and the people around him,” Mr. Swann wrote of Mr. Patel on social media. The FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia. WikipediaOn Monday, Mr. Patel received a rare rebuke from a conservative New York Post columnist, Miranda Devine, for what she called his “unfocused leadership, preoccupation with his own image and mercurial purges.”Ms. Devine added: “Patel has a difficult task rooting out rogue actors responsible for weaponizing the FBI against Trump and conservatives, but his high-profile private life, flamboyant style and devotion to flying to sporting events at home and abroad in the FBI jet don’t help morale.”

Kash Patel Signs Autographs as UFC Fighters Teach New FBI Agents Techniques at First-Ever Ultimate Fighting Training Session

More from the New York Sun

Taliban Frees American Academic Held More Than Year

Belgium Deploys Troops To Protect Jewish Sites as Iran-Linked Group Claims Attacks Across Europe

California Governor Debate Abruptly Cancelled After Participation Rules Exclude All Non-White Candidates

More from the New York Sun

Taliban Frees American Academic Held More Than Year

Belgium Deploys Troops To Protect Jewish Sites as Iran-Linked Group Claims Attacks Across Europe

California Governor Debate Abruptly Cancelled After Participation Rules Exclude All Non-White Candidates

Vance Leads 2028 GOP Presidential Contenders in Polling, but Rubio’s Star Is Rising in First-in-the-Nation Primary State

Oil Market Trades Executed Minutes Before Trump Iran Announcement Net Mystery Buyers $580 Million in Profits

Delta Air Lines Suspends Special Services for Members of Congress Amid DHS Shutdown

A ‘Yentl’ Adaptation That Finally Captures the Spirit of Isaac Bashevis Singer

Epic Fury: What New Arms Are in Play