Eric Trump, the 42-year-old son of President Donald Trump, on Monday denied allegations that he sought inside information from a UFC analyst ahead of the White House’s mixed martial arts event Sunday. In a since-deleted post on X, screenshots appeared to show messages from an account under Trump’s name to UFC commentator Daniel Cormier asking, “Anything you can tell me about the fighters tomorrow? Who you got winning?” and “Are any of the fights tomorrow rigged?”
In a statement on X, Trump wrote: “This is completely fake! I have never reached out to Daniel. In fact, this is scary.” In a subsequent post he added: “This did not happen. They were AI generated. Please be careful with reporting.”
Cormier also denied the screenshots. In a since-deleted post on his account, Cormier wrote: “Are people really this dumb?” When asked in person whether the screenshots were real, Cormier said: “Not real. I can’t believe you guys believe that… I got hacked or something… Who believes stuff like that? That’s crazy… Why would I do that?”
Trump Organization spokesperson Kimberly Benza issued a separate denial, saying: “These screenshots are fake. They were fabricated and do not reflect reality. This is one of the dangers of AI-generated content: false information can spread quickly when people don’t verify what they’re seeing. Please do better before sharing misinformation.”
The event, UFC Freedom 250, took place on the White House grounds Sunday and coincided with President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. It drew a high-profile audience that included David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance; Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg; and Kris Marszalek of Crypto.com.
The fights had already drawn controversy before the screenshots emerged. During the event, UFC fighter Josh Hokit repeated the false conspiracy claim that “Michelle Obama is a man.” Sunday’s spectacle also faced separate criticism for its cost and for the decision to stage a cage-fighting event on the White House lawn.