Dana White Denounces UFC ‘Fixed Fighting’ Allegations Amid FBI Investigation
UFC head honcho fired back at allegations of a fixed fight that plunged the promotion into a gambling scandal. RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Controversy broke out last weekend over one of the fights on the prelim card, where Isaac Dulgarian was accused of giving up far too easily and too early for a submission to Yadier Del Valle, despite being the heavy favorite.
Dulgarian, 29, nicknamed “The Midwest Choppa,” entered the octagon as the consensus -250 favorite in the featherweight fight.
Some sportsbooks stopped betting on the fight before it started when the odds went to -154 in the hour before the throwdown, citing questionable betting activity.
After giving up so easily in the first round and never having competed in a professional fight before, fans called a foul on Dulgarian’s tapout.
Even commentators Daniel Cormier and Michael Chiesa called it “white belt stuff,” referring to an entry-level jiu-jitsu practitioner.
Dulgarian previously raised eyebrows when he complained to MMA Junkie that he and other fighters should get a percentage of the bets on their fight.
“I said, ‘Don’t bet on me unless you pay me a certain percentage’. I do all the work – that’s how I think about it,” he snorted. “If you bet on me, I want some of it.”
Immediately after Dulgarian’s incredible loss, Caesar Sportsbook Support posted at X that customers with losing bets on the matchup would receive a cash credit.
Dulgarian was released by the UFC on Monday, November 3, two days after his super sketchy fight, reportedly due to “integrity issues,” according to DraftKings.
White confirmed that an investigation was underway and that the FBI was involved Tuesday, November 4 interview with TMZ Sports.
The Donald Trump supporter said UFC’s betting integrity partner, IC360, alerted the promotion to unusual betting activity, including a surge in betting on underdog del Valle’s victory hours before the fight.
“[IC360] contacted us and told us that there was some unusual action going on during that fight. “Do we know anything?” We didn’t do that,” White explained.
“So what we did was call the fighter and his lawyer and say, ‘What’s going on? There’s some weird action going on with you [fight] – there’s some weird gambling going on during your fight. Are you injured? Do you owe someone money? Did anyone approach you to, you know…’ And the boy said, ‘No, absolutely not. I’m going to kill this man.’ So we said, ‘OK,'” the Ultimate Fighting Championship president noted of Dulgarian.
“The fight plays out – and a first-round finish by rear choke. The first thing we literally did was call the FBI,” White revealed of Dulgarian’s highly suspicious loss.
He met twice with federal authorities in Las Vegas on Tuesday, November 4, revealing he had “an office full of FBI agents” here.
“I hate to see anyone in our sport doing anything illegal, you know, but fixing fights is absolutely insane,” White stated.
“And I’m not saying this kid is guilty. You know what I mean? There’s no evidence yet that he did this, but I can tell you this: It doesn’t look good. It definitely doesn’t look good,” he added about Dulgarian.
The UFC drama follows a scandal that rocked the NBA, with several players accused of leaving matches to secure a specific betting outcome.
