The FBI is now investigating allegations that a UFC fight may have been fixed, according to promotion CEO and President Dana White.
This past weekend at UFC Vegas 110, the featherweight match-up between Yadier del Valle and Isaac Dulgarian saw a massive shift in the betting line in the hours prior to the bout. Dulgarian, 2-1 entering the fight, was later submitted via rear-naked choke in a heavily criticized performance. Given the number of wagers that had come in late picking del Valle by early finish, red flags were raised.
White confirmed as much to TMZ on Tuesday.
“Probably about one o’clock that day, we’re with a company called IC 360, and they are the best bet monitoring company in the business. They reached out to us, and they told us that there was some unusual action going on with that fight – did we know anything? We didn’t,” White said while speaking with TMZ. “So what we did was, we called the fighter and his lawyer, and said, ‘What’s going on? There’s some weird action going on in your bet, weird betting action going on with your fight. Are you injured? You owe anybody money? Has anybody approached you?’ And the kid said, ‘No, absolutely not. I’m going to kill this guy.’ And you know, so we said, ‘okay.'”
“The fight plays out and [it’s a] first round finish by rear-naked choke. Literally, the first thing we did was call the FBI. So we called the FBI, I’ve met with the FBI twice today, so that’s the whole thing.”
White disputed an online report that hundreds of fights were under investigation, calling that news “all clickbait BS.”
That said, a number of fighters have come out following the event, saying that historically, they had been approached to throw fights, without suggesting by who.
Among them, Vanessa Demopoulos and Vince Morales, the latter of whom confirmed to Cageside Press that he was approached ahead of the first UFC Vegas show at the Apex during COVID. Morales turned down the offer, saying “That was way back in the covid times. Fight week during the first week of apex. Happened in passing so I didn’t even take it serious.”
“If you try to do this, we will be your worst enemy. We will immediately go after you guns a’ blazing with the FBI and whoever else we need to get. And we will do everything we can to make sure you go to prison,” White said of anyone attempting to fix fights, before questioning why fighters claiming to have been approached to throw their bouts hadn’t come forward sooner, either to the promotion, or to the authorities.
“Really? Why didn’t you tell us that, or more importantly, why didn’t you tell law enforcement that you were approached? Now? Now you’re saying that you were approached?”
White compared it to being approached by someone putting together a bank heist. “You’re not going to tell law enforcement? It’s really weird that fighters are coming out now. They’re going to be approached now, by the FBI.”
Dulgarian has since been released by the UFC, with his full fight purse being held back by the Nevada Athletic Commission. White isn’t passing judgment just yet, but admits it doesn’t look good for his now-former fighter.
“I hate to see anybody in our sport do anything illegal, but fight fixing is absolutely insane. To get to this level and go out and be a part of fight [fixing]- and I’m not saying this kid is guilty. There is no proof that he’s done this yet, but I can tell you this: it doesn’t look good. It definitely doesn’t look good.”
