Patrick Tucker

Trump is opening the White House ever wider to Russian citizens and people connected to the Russian authorities. He has offered UFC chief Dana White the position of press secretary and suggested that he bring six fighters with him as “assistants.” White announced that he would meet Trump on November 9 to discuss the offer. UFC, which White heads, has a business connection to the fund run by Kirill Dmitriev. In 2018, the company established a joint venture to operate in Russia. Its investors included the UAE’s Mubadala and the Russia-China Investment Fund, whose co-founders include the Russian Direct Investment Fund, headed by Dmitriev. Among the proposed “assistants,” Khabib Nurmagomedov has the most prominent political connections. He met Putin in 2018 and 2019 and has repeatedly visited Kadyrov. Trump is now proposing to employ him at the White House. White himself has spoken about the material rewards Nurmagomedov received from the Russian authorities. In a 2024 episode of the Games with Names podcast, he claimed that, after Nurmagomedov’s victory over McGregor, Putin gave him and his father property worth approximately $20 million. Another proposed “assistant,” Islam Makhachev, maintained contacts with Kadyrov’s circle after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. In October 2022, he brought his championship belt to Chechnya and posed for photographs with Kadyrov. In 2026, Makhachev became a global sambo ambassador for FIAS. The federation is headed by Vasily Shestakov, Putin’s longtime judo partner, who has himself spoken about their friendship. Among the Americans named, Justin Gaethje has the clearest documented contact with Kadyrov’s infrastructure. In November 2022, he visited Chechnya alongside Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo, where they fired weapons at a training facility for Russian security forces. Gaethje also confirmed attending a birthday celebration for one of Kadyrov’s sons. Kadyrov’s sporting network is directly connected to the war. The US Treasury has explicitly linked his MMA clubs to recruitment for military operations against Ukraine. Akhmat MMA and Absolute Championship Akhmat are subject to US sanctions as entities owned or controlled by Kadyrov. Contacts with this network give the Russian authorities international visibility, prestige and opportunities to use athletes’ standing to advance their interests. Four of the six fighters named are connected through Ali Abdelaziz’s agency, Dominance MMA: its official website lists Nurmagomedov, Makhachev, Gaethje and Kayla Harrison among its clients. Abdelaziz has publicly defended Nurmagomedov’s contacts with Kadyrov and has his own access to Trump. On May 6, 2026, Reuters photographed him in the Oval Office during the president’s meeting with UFC representatives. A personnel bridge between UFC and the administration already exists. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung worked for UFC from 2013 to 2016 and publicly supported the offer to White. Trump is now proposing government positions for people from a milieu where Russian political patronage and commercial interests intersect. This creates additional channels for Kremlin influence within the US administration. With this approach to selecting candidates, Trump might as well simply offer Kirill Dmitriev a part-time position as his deputy.