About one hour before the historic UFC Freedom 250 fight card went down outside the White House last weekend (Sun., June 14, 2026), the most random thing of the year happened: former two-division champion-turned UFC broadcaster, Daniel Cormier, appeared to tweet out screenshots of an alleged direct message conversation with Eric Trump.
In the alleged messages, Trump appeared to ask Cormier for insider information, betting tips and whether any of the upcoming UFC Freedom 250 fights were “rigged.” The post included a caption in which Cormier said he, “would not tolerate that type of behavior.”
The tweet was quickly deleted, leading everyone to speculate whether UFC got involved or if something else was going on.
Cormier later tweeted, “Are people really this dumb?”
Now, three days after the controversy, Cormier addressed the situation on his YouTube channel and claimed he was hacked.
“Let me walk you through the events of last weekend at the UFC, because now I’m getting messages from massive news outlets, national channels, and stations asking me for comments on things that I have no right to be speaking about,” Cormier said. “Peace treaties, and I’m like, I’m no politician. I’m an idiot fighter that loves sports and loves this country.”
Cormier said he did not even know the tweet existed until he arrived at UFC Freedom 250.
“I get to the UFC on Sunday,” Cormier said. “Two of the UFC social media people are telling me, ‘We were just talking about you,’ and I said, ‘About what?’ They said, ‘You and Eric Trump,’ and I was like, ‘What about me and Eric Trump?’ Guys, this is at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday night. … I have no idea how long it was up. I have no idea how long it had been taken down.”
Cormier then flatly denied posting the screenshots or having the conversation.
“Whoever did this, whoever hacked my Twitter, they posted, took it down because they think that people are going to believe stuff like that,” Cormier said. “At the end of the day, I would never do anything like that. I would never engage in those conversations. I would never go to Twitter and post that after engaging in those conversations. … I had no idea what was going on.”
Cormier also explained why he tweeted, “Are people really this dumb?” after the post had already been deleted.
“I did tweet, ‘Are people that stupid?’ because to a guy like me, I’m like, it just doesn’t make sense logically to think that I would do that,” Cormier said. “One, I don’t really talk like that, and two, I’m actually going to the White House to do that fight. So why right before I go into the White House to do the fight would I do something like that, knowing that I’m going to be around all these people? It just doesn’t make sense.”
Cormier said the situation became a distraction during one of the biggest broadcasting moments of his career.
“I’m still just barely getting into my Twitter account this morning,” Cormier said. “For the last two and a half days, I have been trying to work with Twitter to get me back into my account. … One of the biggest broadcasting moments of my entire career, so it’s like you get distracted, and that sucks.”
According to Cormier, the biggest issue he has dealt with so far has not come from UFC or the White House, but from long-time sponsors asking questions.
“So, I get annoyed, and I get frustrated because I don’t understand how I’m telling you it’s not true,” Cormier said. “I’m telling everyone it’s just not true, and people just don’t seem to want to believe it. … That man did not come up to me and ask me any of that type of stuff. I don’t think he’s stupid enough to do that. I don’t think anybody would be dumb enough to do that to someone they just don’t know.”
Cormier also pointed to another reason he believes the alleged DMs were fake: he and Trump do not follow each other on social media.
“We don’t follow each other on any social channels,” Cormier said. “I don’t follow Eric Trump. Eric Trump doesn’t follow me. If I’m being completely honest, I met Donald Trump Jr. on Saturday and mistook him for Eric Trump. I don’t follow politics that closely. … If you just looked a little bit and paid attention — hey, these guys don’t follow each other. How are they sending these direct messages?”
Cormier ended by again denying the messages were real.
“It wasn’t, it just wasn’t real,” Cormier concluded. “So, I’m telling you, not true. Please, please, guys, stop asking me about it. It’s just not real. Somebody got my Twitter, and they took it from me.”
Trump has also said the DMs were fake.
So, there you go. According to both sides, the whole thing was bogus. Still, it made for one of the weirdest fight-day controversies UFC has seen in a while … other than fights being canceled because of real betting irregularities (like this).
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