Eric Trump shut down claims that he attempted to rig the UFC White House fights as indicated in alleged DMs shared by UFC champ Daniel Cormier, who has since claimed he was “hacked.”
The drama between Trump, 42, and Cormier, 47, began over the weekend when the former mixed martial artist posted and quickly deleted a string of DMs in which President Donald Trump’s second eldest son asked him for insider info about the Sunday, June 14, UFC fights on the White House’s South Lawn.
“Anything you can tell me about the fighters tomorrow? Who you got winning?” Eric allegedly wrote to Cormier, according to The Daily Beast. In another message, he appeared to ask, “Are any of the fighters injured that you know of?”
Cormier purportedly responded, “I’m not quite sure why you’re asking me this but I think they’re all in good shape.”
Eric then allegedly wrote to Cormier, “I’ll just cut to the chase. Are any of the fights tomorrow rigged? I’ve been eyeing the [Diego] Lopes fight and I think an upset wouldn’t be too unrealistic. $$.”
The exchange concluded with an apparent message from Cormier that read, “No, none of our fights [are] rigged and honestly I am appalled you would even ask me something like that.”
The caption of the post read, “I’m probably going to get a lot of flak for bringing this to light, however I refuse to stay silent. The UFC is a sport that I am deeply passionate about I will not tolerate this type of insider behavior. Shame on anyone trying to ruin this beautiful event.”
As screenshots of the post circulated via X, Eric denied that the exchange was real.
“This is completely fake! I have never reached out to Daniel. In fact, this is scary,” he wrote.
In another post that appears to have since been deleted, Eric wrote, “We are aware of the fake, AI generated screenshots being circulated online. I have never spoken to Daniel. He has since deleted his post, which confirms it was clearly fabricated.”
Cormier, meanwhile, has claimed that his account was hacked and that the post was entirely fake.
“Not real. I can’t believe you guys believed that. … I got hacked or something,” Cormier said in a street interview shared by Championship Rounds via X.
The UFC color commentator also took to X to write, “Are people really this dumb?”
Eric reposted the video and Cormier’s post and thanked him for speaking out.
Sunday’s unprecedented UFC event at the White House, a.k.a. UFC Freedom 250, was held in honor of Donald’s 80th birthday, as well as America’s upcoming 250th birthday. Matches were held between several UFC fighters, including Ilia Topuira and Justin Gaethje, Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane, Sean O’Malley and Aiemann Zahabi, Josh Hokit and Derrick Lewis, Mauricio Ruffy and Michael Chandler, Bo Nickal and Kyle Daukaus and Lopes and Steve Garcia.
The president sat ringside as Gaethje, Gane, O’Malley, Hokit, Ruffy, Nickal and Lopes emerged victorious.
In addition to the fights, the event featured a performance of the national anthem by country singer Zac Brown, who faced controversy for his participation.
“Man, I’m there for the troops, man. I’m there to honor America,” Brown, 47, said on the Wednesday, June 10, episode of The Pat McAfee Show. “This is patriotism, not politics for me.”
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