Newly appointed FBI Director Kash Patel, whose ambitious plans to reform the nation’s top law enforcement agency have unsettled many within the bureau, has proposed strengthening the FBI’s ranks with assistance from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
According to sources familiar with Patel’s proposal, the initiative involves collaboration with the martial arts entertainment giant, whose CEO, Dana White, was a key supporter of President Donald Trump’s reelection, ABC News reported.
During a teleconference Wednesday with the leaders of the FBI’s 55 field offices, Patel suggested establishing a formal partnership with the UFC to develop fitness programs aimed at enhancing agents’ physical conditioning, sources briefed on the call said.
The weekly virtual meeting with special agents in charge of each field office has been a longstanding tradition, but this marked the first call led by Patel since he was sworn in as director on Friday.
Within hours of the Wednesday call, news of Patel’s UFC proposal spread to current and former FBI officials across the country, with some embracing it.
“If they’re trying to up their physical fitness, the UFC is very specific in their fitness,” ABC News contributor Rich Frankel, the former special agent in charge of the FBI’s Newark, New Jersey, office, told the network.
The report added that the details are still sketchy as to how Patel would want to incorporate the UFC into improving agent fitness.
“Patel’s proposal to ask the UFC for help…quickly created some buzz within the FBI community. UFC is based in Las Vegas, where Patel now lives,” ABC News noted.
Frankel, a veteran of more than two decades with the FBI, acknowledged that raising the bureau’s physical fitness standards could be beneficial—making the idea of the UFC assisting with FBI training less unconventional than it might seem.
He noted that some FBI offices have previously invited martial arts experts and other specialists to provide training and guidance to agents. However, he added, “I don’t want UFC to take over the gym.”
Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi shockingly revealed that the FBI’s New York field office was concealing crucial documents about Jeffrey Epstein, a move that shook up social media late on Thursday afternoon.
In a letter to Patel, Bondi asked for immediate compliance and an investigation into how the FBI handled the case from within the agency.
The letter comes after earlier reports that the FBI may have been destroying Epstein-related documents in secret, which led to more rumors about corruption in the government and attempts to obstruct justice. Bondi wrote that her office had only gotten a small part of the documents it had asked for about Epstein’s huge criminal enterprise.
“I repeatedly questioned whether this was the full set of documents responsive to my request and was repeatedly assured by the FBI that we had received the full set of documents,” Bondi wrote. “Late yesterday, I learned from a source that the FBI Field Office in New York was in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein.”
“When you and I spoke yesterday, you were just as surprised as I was to learn this new information,” Bondi wrote to Patel.
She then issued a direct order: “By 8:00 a.m. tomorrow, February 28, the FBI will deliver the full and complete Epstein files to my office, including all records, documents, audio and video recordings, and materials related to Jeffrey Epstein and his clients.”
Bondi also asked for an immediate internal investigation into why the FBI didn’t follow through on previous requests. She also told the FBI to write a report on the matter within 14 days.
“I appreciate your immediate attention to this important matter. I know that we are both committed to transparency for the American people, and I look forward to continuing to work with you to serve our President and our country,” Bondi added.