Senior Pentagon leaders are putting together lists of uniformed US service members who will be offered the chance to attend the UFC fight at the White House next month hosted by President Donald Trump, but tickets will only be given to those who meet weight requirements that are part of military fitness standards, according to guidance memos reviewed by CNN and sources familiar with the process.
“Ticket recipients are required to meet the DOW waist-to-height ratio standard of less than 0.55, as well as all service specific physical fitness test requirements,” one of the memos sent to service members says, using the Pentagon’s preferred acronym for the agency.
That figure is roughly in line with standards for service members that the Defense Department put in place earlier this year when it made waist-to-height ratio the new body composition standard for measuring a service member’s “warfighting readiness.” It is part of an intense focus on physical fitness by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who described his vision for the military in a speech to senior uniformed leaders last year.
There will be no “fat troops” or “fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon,” Hegseth said in the October during a speech at Marine Base Quantico, Virginia.
The Pentagon declined to comment on the guidance about the UFC event.
One defense official said the selection requirements for Trump’s made-for-TV UFC event send a very clear message to soldiers interested in attending: “No fattys.”
Another defense official familiar with the approval process said senior Pentagon leaders have signaled their preference that DoD attendees “look good” on camera during the event. “Basically, no fat soldiers,” the person said.
The guidance also directs commanders to only distribute tickets to “genuine UFC fans” and to focus on selecting junior enlisted and junior officers, according to the memos reviewed by CNN.
And while the Pentagon guidance recommends military leaders recruit attendees who live outside the nation’s capital, it notes that service members will be required to pay their own way, though the tickets are free.
The Pentagon has tightly orchestrated the optics of Trump’s appearances with US troops, including at his previous visit to Ft. Bragg where soldiers were handpicked for the audience based on political leanings and physical appearance. The troops ultimately selected to be behind Trump and visible to the cameras were almost exclusively male.
