WASHINGTON — Daniel Cormier’s account posted screenshots of what appeared to be Eric Trump, son of President Donald Trump, fishing for information about potentially rigged UFC fights on the White House lawn on Sunday afternoon, but Eric said the images were AI generated and he never reached out to Cormier.
Cormier, a UFC Hall of Famer and current TV analyst, deleted the post and later wrote, “Are people really this dumb?” after it appeared his X account was hacked and victimized by a crypto scam during the UFC Freedom 250 event.
“Not real, I can’t believe you guys believed that,” Cormier said in videos posted online as he took photos with fans in D.C. “Like, who believes that? I got hacked or something. Who believes something like that. That’s crazy. Why would I do that?”
In the deleted tweet, the UFC analyst had said he “refuse(s) to stay silent” about corruption and will “not tolerate this type of insider behavior and shame on anyone trying to ruin this beautiful event.”
“Are any of the fighters injured that you know of?” Trump asked in the alleged exchange.
“I’m not quite sure why you’re asking me this, but I think they’re all in good shape,” Cormier replied.
“I’ll just cut to the chase. Are any of the fights tomorrow rigged?” Trump is alleged to have asked. “I’ve been eyeing the [Diego] Lopes fight, and I think an upset wouldn’t be too unrealistic. $$”
“No none of our fights rigged and honestly I am appalled that you would even ask me something like that,” Cormier replied, per the screengrabs.
This post was up for just a few minutes before being deleted, but was quickly screen-recorded by other users and spread like wildfire online.
“This is completely fake!” Eric Trump, 42, wrote. “I have never reached out to Daniel. In fact, this is scary.”
Hours later, Cormier’s account began posting nonsense online about a cryptocurrency scam they were hoping to pump and dump, confirming what many had already suspected.
The UFC did not comment on the matter as it hosted seven cage fights in a make-shift stadium on the South Lawn of the White House.
Things went mostly according to plan, though there was a small delay due to potential weather problems that ended up missing the area.
