This is a preliminary fact-check of a developing story. Events are still unfolding as of publication on the night of June 14, 2026. We will update this article as more information becomes available.
FACT CHECK — By Roe Baynes Published June 14, 2026 · UPDATED June 15, 2026 · 9 min read
Updated June 15 with new technical analysis and statements from the Trump Organization. Verdict unchanged. See Updates below.
THE QUICK VERSION — 60 SECOND READ
The Claim: Screenshots circulating on X tonight appear to show Eric Trump, son of President Trump, sending direct messages to UFC commentator Daniel Cormier asking whether any of tonight’s UFC Freedom 250 fights at the White House were “rigged” — and floating a bet on the Lopes fight. A post sharing the screenshots has racked up over 8 million views.
The Counter-Claim: Eric Trump says the screenshots are fake, AI-generated fabrications and that he has never spoken to Cormier. Cormier, who originally posted the screenshots, deleted them and then posted “Are people really this dumb?”
What We Can Verify: Cormier did post the screenshots — multiple named journalists confirm seeing the original post before he deleted it. Both Eric Trump and Cormier now say the DM exchange never happened. Eric Trump told the Wall Street Journal the messages were “some kind of AI spoof.” There is also evidence Cormier’s account may have been compromised, as it later posted crypto spam.
Verdict: Mostly False (Preliminary). The central claim — that Eric Trump solicited inside information to bet on rigged fights — is denied by both named parties and is unsupported by any verified evidence. The screenshots bear the hallmarks of AI fabrication. This is a fast-moving story and we are treating it as preliminary.
Read the full breakdown below.
THE CLAIM
On the night of June 14, 2026 — hours before the historic UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn of the White House — screenshots began circulating rapidly on X appearing to show a private direct-message exchange between Eric Trump and UFC Hall of Famer and commentator Daniel Cormier.
In the screenshots, an account labeled as Eric Trump’s appears to greet Cormier, make small talk about attending the event, and then progressively probe for inside information — asking who Cormier had winning, whether he was placing any bets, whether any fighters were injured, and finally, in the message that drove the virality: “I’ll just cut to the chase. Are any of the fights tomorrow rigged? I’ve been eyeing the Lopes fight and I think an upset wouldn’t be too unrealistic. $$”
The screenshots were attached to a post, attributed to Cormier’s account, that read: “I’m probably going to get a lot of flak for bringing this to light, however I refuse to stay silent. The UFC is a sport that I am deeply passionate about I will not tolerate this type of insider behavior. Shame on anyone trying to ruin this beautiful event.”
The post spread explosively. One widely shared version, posted by an account called Sean O’Meowlly (@NeedMyNutsLickt), accumulated over 8 million views, 2,500 reposts, and 14,000 likes within hours. Numerous other accounts — many of them left-leaning commentators highly critical of the Trump family and of the White House UFC event itself — copied the post or amplified it. Some, like Harry Sisson, framed it as proof that “the entire Trump family are scammers and con artists.”
The implied claim, as it spread: Eric Trump got caught trying to obtain insider information to bet on potentially rigged UFC fights at his father’s White House event.
THE COUNTER-CLAIM
Both named parties say it never happened.
Eric Trump responded publicly on X: “This is completely fake! I have never reached out to Daniel. In fact, this is scary.” In a follow-up post, he added: “We are aware of the fake, AI generated screenshots being circulated online. I have never spoken to Daniel. He has since deleted his post, which confirms it was clearly fabricated.” He tagged the UFC and CEO Dana White. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Eric Trump said: “That is absolutely not me. I didn’t even know who the guy was… This is some kind of AI spoof. This is crazy.”
Daniel Cormier, after deleting his original post, wrote cryptically: “Are people really this dumb?” — and did not directly explain what had happened with his account.
WHAT WE CAN VERIFY
This is where a careful fact-check has to slow down, because the verifiable facts do not line up cleanly with either the viral claim or a simple “it’s all fake” dismissal.
Verified: Cormier’s post was real. This is important. The version of events that says “the whole thing including Cormier’s post was a fabrication by random accounts” is not correct. Multiple named, credentialed MMA journalists — Adam Martin, A.J. Perez, and Ryan Frederick of Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline — have publicly confirmed they personally saw Cormier’s original post before he deleted it, and screen captures were taken in real time. An X Community Note attached to the conversation also identified the original post’s URL and conversation ID as originating from Cormier’s verified account. So Cormier did post the screenshots and the accompanying statement.
Verified: Both parties now deny the underlying exchange happened. Eric Trump denies sending the messages. Cormier deleted his post and has not stood behind it, instead posting “Are people really this dumb?”
Verified: There is evidence Cormier’s account may have been compromised. After the original post was deleted, Cormier’s account reportedly published spam links to a Trump-themed cryptocurrency with the message “The Masks Are Off.” This is a classic signature of a hacked or hijacked social media account. If Cormier’s account was compromised, it would explain how the post appeared under his name without reflecting his actual actions.
Not verified by anyone: That the DM exchange between Eric Trump and Cormier actually occurred. No independent party has authenticated the DMs themselves. Screenshots of direct messages are among the easiest things to fabricate, and AI image tools have made it nearly trivial to generate convincing fake message exchanges. No metadata, no platform confirmation, and no statement from either named participant supports the authenticity of the exchange. Both named participants deny it.
THE TWO LIVE THEORIES
Stripped of spin, there are two credible explanations for what happened tonight. Both are consistent with the verified facts. Neither has been confirmed.
Theory A: The DMs were real and Eric Trump got caught. Under this theory, Eric Trump did send the messages, Cormier exposed them, and then deleted the post under pressure — perhaps after being contacted by the UFC, the Trump organization, or his own employer. Supporters of this theory point out that Cormier’s original post had a sincere, angry tone, not a mocking one, and that he posted it himself. The weaknesses: both named parties deny it, no independent authentication of the DMs exists, and the subsequent crypto-spam from Cormier’s account suggests the account was not fully under his control.
Theory B: Cormier’s account was hacked, and the DMs were AI-generated. Under this theory, a third party gained access to Cormier’s account, posted AI-fabricated screenshots designed to embarrass Eric Trump, and later used the same access to push crypto spam. This would explain why both named parties deny the exchange, why the DMs cannot be authenticated, and why the account later behaved like a compromised account. The weaknesses: it requires assuming a sophisticated account takeover, and some journalists who saw the original post believe Cormier posted it himself.
The honest position tonight is that we do not yet know which theory is correct. What we can say is that the central viral claim — that Eric Trump is confirmed to have solicited inside information to bet on rigged fights — is not supported by verified evidence and is denied by both named individuals.
THE CONTEXT: WHY THIS WENT VIRAL
It is worth being direct about why this particular claim spread as fast as it did.
UFC Freedom 250 — the first professional sporting event ever held on the grounds of the White House, staged to mark America’s 250th birthday and coinciding with President Trump’s 80th birthday — has been heavily criticized and lamented by the political left since it was announced. The event represents an unusually tight fusion of a sitting president, his family, a major sports promotion, and its billionaire CEO Dana White, a longtime Trump ally. Critics have characterized it as a propaganda spectacle and an inappropriate use of the White House. Even some of the broadcasters involved, including Joe Rogan, had publicly expressed reservations about the event.
In that environment, a claim that a Trump family member was caught trying to bet on rigged fights at the event was, for the event’s opponents, almost too perfect. It confirmed everything critics already believed about the family and the spectacle. That is precisely the kind of claim that spreads fastest — not because it has been verified, but because it tells a receptive audience exactly what it wants to hear. The accounts that amplified it most aggressively were, by and large, accounts already opposed to the event and to the Trump family.
This is worth remembering as a general principle: the claims that go most viral are often the ones that confirm a pre-existing narrative, and that is exactly when readers — and fact-checkers — should be most cautious. There is an old saying, often attributed to various figures over the centuries, that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting its shoes on. Tonight’s episode is a near-perfect illustration. The claim reached over 8 million people in hours. The denials and the complicating context will reach far fewer.
A RELATED CLAIM: WAS CORMIER PULLED FROM COMMENTARY?
As the main story spread, a secondary claim emerged. An account posted “BREAKING NEWS” that Daniel Cormier had been “pulled off the UFC Freedom 250 commentary team” and was “being replaced by Michael Bisping.”
This one we can definitively check, because the event happened.
Verdict on this sub-claim: FALSE. Daniel Cormier was in the broadcast booth calling UFC Freedom 250 live, exactly as scheduled, alongside lead commentator Jon Anik and Joe Rogan. Live event coverage from CBS Sports confirmed all three were setting the scene for the main card as the broadcast went live. Cormier was not pulled, not replaced, and Michael Bisping remained on the analyst desk in his previously announced role. The “BREAKING NEWS” post was fabricated.
This sub-claim is a useful reminder of how these nights work: once one viral claim is in the air, opportunistic accounts pile on with adjacent fabrications, each one racking up engagement before anyone can check it.
THE VERDICT: MOSTLY FALSE — PRELIMINARY
On the central claim — that Eric Trump solicited inside information from Daniel Cormier to bet on rigged UFC fights — our preliminary verdict is Mostly False.
Here is the reasoning. The claim is denied by both named participants. The DM screenshots have not been authenticated by anyone and bear the hallmarks of the AI-generated fabrications that now flood social media around major events. There is affirmative evidence that Cormier’s account may have been compromised, given the crypto spam it later posted. And the claim’s explosive virality is best explained not by its evidentiary strength but by its alignment with a narrative that the event’s many critics were already primed to believe.
We would also note, as a matter of basic plausibility, that the scenario the claim asks readers to accept is a steep one: that one of the most heavily scrutinized and surveilled members of the President’s family would put in writing, in a direct message to a public figure he had never spoken to, a request to bet on rigged fights — at his own father’s White House event, on a night the entire world was watching. The claim is not impossible. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and tonight, that evidence does not exist.
Why “Mostly False” and not “False” or “Pants on Fire”: We are not rating this a flat “False” because one genuine loose end remains unresolved — Cormier’s real, verified account did post the screenshots, confirmed by multiple named journalists, and we cannot yet fully explain how or why. That single unresolved thread is enough to hold us back from a definitive “False” tonight. But everything else — both parties’ denials, the absence of any authentication, the signs of a compromised account, and the sheer implausibility of the underlying scenario — points strongly against the claim. If verified evidence emerges that changes the picture, we will update this verdict in either direction.
The related claim — that Cormier was pulled from the broadcast — is simply FALSE. He called the event live.
This is a developing story. This fact-check was published the night of June 14, 2026, while UFC Freedom 250 was still underway and details were still emerging. We are publishing now because the claim is spreading rapidly and readers deserve a sober assessment in real time — but we are explicitly labeling this preliminary. As more verifiable information becomes available, we will update this article and revise the verdict if the evidence warrants. Check back for updates.
Updates
UPDATE — June 15, 2026 (later): New technical analysis strengthens the “fake” conclusion. An independent X user, @mochiMonster23, published a detailed nine-part forensic breakdown arguing the screenshots are forged, and the technical case is compelling. Testing the current X iOS app with two accounts, they documented that the screenshots contain a combination of interface states that cannot occur together: the conversation header reads “Unencrypted,” yet the outgoing messages display the circular delivery-status indicators that only appear after a chat has transitioned to end-to-end encryption — and the mandatory “This conversation is now end-to-end encrypted” system message, which X inserts once when a DM request is accepted, is absent entirely. To demonstrate how easily this is faked, the user reproduced the identical contradiction in minutes by overlaying an “Unencrypted” header onto a real encrypted conversation. The analysis also notes that Cormier’s account subsequently posted memecoin spam (“The Masks Are Off,” with a pump.fun link), consistent with session-token hijacking — a method that lets an attacker access an account without a password, which would explain how posts appeared from Cormier’s account while it was apparently not under his control. This analysis comes from an anonymous account rather than a credentialed forensics firm, so we present it as a strong, independently verifiable technical argument rather than a final authority. Combined with both named parties’ denials and the Trump Organization’s statement, it moves this story further toward fabrication. We are holding the verdict at Mostly False pending a definitive statement from Cormier or X explaining the account activity.
UPDATE — June 15, 2026: Additional statements have reinforced this verdict. A Trump Organization spokesperson, Kimberly Benza, publicly stated the screenshots were “fabricated and do not reflect reality,” adding: “This is one of the dangers of AI-generated content: false information can spread quickly when people don’t verify what they’re seeing.” Eric Trump and Daniel Cormier have since publicly aligned on the claim being fake — Cormier posted “Are people really this dumb?” and Eric Trump reshared it with the reply “Thanks Daniel.” Eric Trump separately posted: “This did not happen. They were AI generated. Please be careful with reporting.” As of this update, no party has authenticated the direct messages, the UFC has not issued a formal statement, and the question of whether Cormier’s account was compromised remains open. The verdict remains Mostly False, and the central claim continues to lack any verified supporting evidence.
A NOTE ON OUR APPROACH
We did not rate this claim quickly to protect anyone or to attack anyone. We rated it based on what can be verified tonight, which is very little, and on the denials of the two named participants, which are on the record. Our verdict tonight could be proven wrong tomorrow. If it is, you will see the correction at the top of this article, in bold, as our corrections policy requires. That is the difference between publishing to be first and publishing to be right. We are trying to do the second one while being honest that the story is not finished.
SOURCES
Eric Trump statements on X, June 14, 2026; Wall Street Journal interview, June 14, 2026.
Daniel Cormier posts on X (since deleted), June 14, 2026; verified by named journalists.
Journalist verification of Cormier’s original post: Adam Martin; A.J. Perez; Ryan Frederick (Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline).
X Community Note identifying the original post’s URL and conversation ID.
On3, “UFC Freedom 250: Eric Trump addresses viral images of alleged insider trading request, Daniel Cormier DM,” June 14, 2026.
Yahoo Sports, “Eric Trump, Daniel Cormier break silence on viral UFC White House ‘rigged fights’ exchange,” June 14, 2026; “UFC Freedom 250: Eric Trump, Daniel Cormier claim alleged images… were AI-generated,” June 14, 2026.
Mediaite, “Former MMA Star Posts and Deletes Screenshots of Eric Trump Asking Him If Any of the White House Fights Were Rigged,” June 14, 2026.
Washington Examiner, “Eric Trump denies asking former UFC star if White House fights were rigged,” June 14, 2026.
F4W/Wrestling Observer, “Controversy over ‘rigged’ UFC Freedom 250 comment,” June 14, 2026.
BroBible, “Are The DMs That Eric Trump Allegedly Sent Daniel Cormier About Rigged ‘UFC Freedom 250’ Fights Real Or AI?,” June 14, 2026.
Cormier commentary role confirmation: CBS Sports live results, June 14, 2026; Yahoo Sports “UFC White House announcers,” June 14, 2026; MMA Mania; MMA Junkie (June 7, 2026 broadcast team announcement).
Context on event criticism: MMA Mania; Yahoo Sports; Barrett Media interview with Daniel Cormier, June 10, 2026.
