A featherweight fight featured on Saturday’s UFC Vegas 110 card is facing allegations of fight fixing, following suspicious line movement prior to the bout kicking off.
At least two notable sportsbooks are offering refunds on bets placed on the action that transpired in Yadier del Valle vs. Isaac Dulgarian. Both Caesars Sportsbook and William Hill US are offering cash credits to gamblers, in a situation eerily reminiscent of the Darrick Minner vs. Shayilan Nuerdanbieke debacle in 2022.
DraftKings has issued a statement advising they are aware of the situation.
As with the Minner case, which saw the fighter enter his UFC Vegas 64 bout injured with word of it slipping out, allegations pertaining to this past Saturday’s del Valle vs. Dulgarian started with many online noticing the shift in line movement. While the Minner case surrounded injury news leaking out, many are pointing to Isaac Dulgarian’s lack of effective defense in the fight.
Here we go again.
In the Minner case, former GLORY MMA and Fitness coach James Krause was eventually banished from MMA, with the FBI among those investigating. The scandal uncovered evidence that Krause was selling betting tips via his own Discord channel, and also ensnared UFC flyweight Jeff Molina, who was released by the promotion and hit with a suspension by the Nevada Athletic Commission for assisting Krause in his gambling venture.
Krause had been a vocal proponent of gambling on fights, saying he made more off it than fighting. Shifting moneylines when his own fighter had an injury crossed an obvious line, however, and resulted in several jurisdictions briefly banning bets on UFC events.
The UFC later issued a strict policy on fighters and their team’s betting on UFC bouts, including banning them from betting on themselves.
UFC fighter an analyst Michael Chiesa lambasted Dulgarian’s performance in the bout during the UFC Vegas 110 post-fight show.
“If you’re on the main card of a UFC, it’s one thing if you kind of get punched into submission, but a lot of Day 1 mistakes,” Chiesa said on the UFC post-fight show (h/t MMA Junkie). “You can even hear on the broadcast like, ‘What is this guy doing?’ You peel the top hand. You don’t punch behind you. That is the most useless strike you can possibly throw. I’m sitting here on the pre-show hyping you up as a guy that can go into the top five and win fights, and it doesn’t even look like you can fight someone that’s in the bottom of the top 500. I’ve got to be honest here. That was an F- performance. It was absolute trash.”
“I’m not sitting here saying Del Valle is some scrub. The guy is undefeated for a reason, he’s a great fighter. But for a guy in Dulgarian, you don’t even run your feet. Every fight before you shoot and run through these guys. You shot to Del Valle. You let him control you. You know how to cut the corner, you know to run your feet, you know to re-attack. You know your short offence if you’re caught in a front headlock. You fought like an amateur. He literally laid an egg, he fought like an amateur. You fought like a guy who doesn’t even belong here. And I hate to just totally crap on the guy, but I’ve got to be honest in my assessment. If that’s how you’re going to fight, there’s other people who are more deserving.”
Currently, there has been no official statement by the UFC or Dulgarian, nor have any allegations of fight fixing, or who might have have been involved, been proven.
