Seven UFC fighters put roughly 300 federal agents and academy students through hand-to-hand combat drills at Quantico.
The Octagon has found a new training ground: the FBI's academy in Quantico, Virginia. Seven past and current UFC fighters recently led a specialized hand-to-hand combat seminar for federal agents, and it adds to the promotion's growing list of connections to the Trump orbit.
The session took place in March at the FBI Special Agent Academy and drew roughly 300 federal agents and academy students. Former middleweight champion Chris Weidman was among the fighters on the mat. Photos showed him coaching attendees on how to fend off attackers.
The FBI announced the seminar in the build-up to UFC Freedom 250, the cage-fighting spectacle staged on the South Lawn of the White House to mark Donald Trump's 80th birthday. The timing underlines how closely the promotion and the president have been linked.
Those ties go back years, and the Quantico visit suggests they could deepen. The UFC may now play a bigger part in training federal agents, which would take the sport's crossover with Washington well beyond the arena.
