Trump-backed House candidate Anthony Constantino’s campaign paid nearly $56,000 to a cage-fighting promotion a week after his spokesman confirmed Constantino was in talks to buy into it, and he now owns the company outright, PunchUp reported Monday.
Constantino, the MAGA rapper who runs Sticker Mule, is seeking the upstate New York seat Rep. Elise Stefanik is leaving.
According to journalist Tom Latchem’s report, the campaign paid Cage Wars $55,940 on Jan. 13, 2025, seven days after spokesman James Colistra confirmed that Constantino was in talks to buy shares from co-owner Thomas Marcellino. The campaign’s Federal Election Commission filing listed the payment’s purpose as a “campaign event.” The payment was made during Constantino’s campaign for an anticipated 2025 special election, which he later ended. Cage Wars held a free fight night the following month.
Constantino used the February 2025 event in Glens Falls, New York, to promote his campaign, addressing “approximately 3,000 spectators from the ring,” PunchUp reported. He later called it “the largest amateur event” in New York state history.
By April 2025, Constantino held a majority stake in Cage Wars, the Daily Gazette reported. The company announced his full takeover in March 2026.
On Jan. 29, 2025, his campaign separately paid $20,000 for “communications consulting” to Cosmic Gamebred Inc., a Miami company whose president is former UFC star Jorge Masvidal. Masvidal also appeared at the event. According to PunchUp, it is unclear what services the company provided or whether the payment was connected to Masvidal’s appearance.
Constantino’s financial disclosures, filed in April and May 2026, list Sticker Mule and its subsidiaries but do not separately name Cage Wars, PunchUp noted.
“Whether Cage Wars needed to be listed separately depends on its ownership structure,” the report said. “There is no evidence that Constantino broke disclosure rules.”
In July, Marcellino, a personal friend who once helped train Constantino as a boxer, was arrested on kidnapping and assault charges involving an accountant who had previously done work for Cage Wars. He pleaded not guilty. Constantino has not been accused of any role in the case, the Times Union reported. His campaign told the paper that Marcellino has no “involvement with the Constantino for Congress campaign” and called past financial support for Cage Wars “simply business transactions with local entrepreneurs.”
Constantino, whom Trump endorsed in April, has lent his campaign $17 million, according to PunchUp. He once gave Trump a seven-foot bronze statue of the president. He faces Democrat Blake Gendebien in November. A Siena poll released earlier this month had Gendebien at 46% and Constantino at 42%, within the margin of error.
Constantino, Cage Wars and Masvidal did not respond to PunchUp’s requests for comment.
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