Company co-founded by Conor McGregor coach pitches for US military contracts

John Kavanagh co-founded MMA.Inc attracting investors including Donald Trump Jr  

John Kavanagh Irish coach to Conor McGregor

A mixed martial arts company whose investors include Conor McGregor and Donald Trump Jr, is looking to win US government contracts by teaching fighting techniques to military and police forces.

Mixed Martial Arts Group Ltd, an Australia-based company, was co-founded by MMA coach John Kavanagh, the Dubliner who coached Conor McGregor, and is hoping to win payouts from the US military and first responders. Trump Jr invested in the firm in a fundraising round late last year, and serves as an adviser to the company. American Ventures LLC, a Trump family-affiliated fund, led the round, which gathered about $3m.

The company is looking for US partners to join a pilot program it hopes to finalise by the end of summer, according to a person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The training plan would make MMA.Inc the latest in a growing group of companies backed by the US president’s children to pursue US government funding, following investments in drones and rare-earth magnet supply chains. A spokesperson for MMA.Inc declined to comment.

Earlier this year, congressional Democrats asked the Pentagon to provide information about the award of tens of millions of dollars in contracts and loans to companies backed by 1789 Capital, the venture capital firm where Trump Jr. is a partner.

A spokesman for Trump Jr. did not respond to a request for comment. In response to previous criticism from progressive watchdogs and Democrats over the potential for conflicts of interest in their business ventures, the Trump children have previously said they are private businessmen.

The MMA.Inc program isn’t finalized yet, the person familiar said — but ideas include teaching grappling techniques to restrain adversaries. These “structured training programs” would be led by Kavanagh, who co-founded MMA.Inc., according to a release the company issued last month without offering specifics on timeline, location or content.

Trump an MMA fan

President Trump is a longtime MMA fan and close friend to UFC chief executive Dana White, the most high-profile MMA league with millions of fans. The president spent the past weekend attending a UFC fight in Miami alongside rapper Vanilla Ice and podcaster Joe Rogan as peace talks with Iran, led by US vice president JD Vance, were collapsing in Pakistan.

At the match, UFC unveiled a new advertisement for an upcoming cage match on June 14 — Trump’s birthday — at the White House. The White House communications director, Steven Cheung, was a former spokesperson for UFC.

McGregor remains one of MMA’s most popular figures despite a string of arrests. McGregor visited Trump in the Oval Office last year and criticized immigration policies in Ireland during an appearance in the White House briefing room. “The Trumps and the McGregors, a truly iconic team!” McGregor wrote on X, after Trump Jr. became an advisor to MMA.Inc.

Other leading Trump officials are also fans of the combat fighting style.

FBI Director Kash Patel invited UFC fighters for a combat instruction session with staff last month at the agency’s headquarters in Quantico, Virginia. UFC later shared images of men sporting black hoodies and polo shirts with both UFC and FBI branding.

If MMA.Inc lands military deals of its own — an outcome that’s still uncertain — it could be a new avenue for a company worth about $12m that’s still casting around for ways to grow, even pursuing a virtual token venture tied to training gyms.

Despite investments, including the December fundraising round that included Trump Jr., MMA.Inc has shed almost all of its value in its time as a public company. Its shares trade for less than $1.

For a microcap stock, it’s unclear how much new business government training programs would generate. Rather than hosting fights, MMA.Inc carved a separate niche in various technology-related businesses, offering gym management software and touting a crypto-driven “get paid to train” rewards program.

The company’s business pales in comparison to UFC, owned by the publicly listed TKO Group Holdings Inc. UFC is a $38bn organization that orchestrates matches between high-profile celebrity fighters; it had more than 4,000 employees at the end of last year.

Bloomberg