Isaac Dulgarian continues to feel the immediate ripple effects of his controversial loss to Yadier del Valle at UFC Vegas 110 on Saturday.
An up-and-coming featherweight prospect, Dulgarian lost to del Valle via first-round rear-naked choke after delivering a suspiciously uncharacteristic performance. Betting lines shifted drastically in the hours before the bout despite Dulgarian’s position as the comfortable favorite throughout the lead-up. As a result of the suspicious activity, an internal investigation has begun, with the UFC issuing a statement on Dulgarian’s fight and cutting him from the roster. The Nevada Athletic Commission has since withheld Dulgarian’s fight purse as the situation develops.
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Dulgarian’s head coach at Factory X, Marc Montoya, has gone a step further. The longtime coach told Uncrowned on Tuesday that he has kicked Dulgarian off the team.
Montoya, who worked with Dulgarian for each of the featherweight’s past three UFC fights, noted that Dulgarian showed no questionable or uncharacteristic traits ahead of the del Valle fight.
“We had a conversation on Sunday. It was real brief,” Montoya told “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “The conversation was that he was cut from the UFC, and, unfortunately, there’s an investigation that is being had — ultimately, that he’s not part of this Factory X team because of everything going on.
“Whether he’s guilty or he’s innocent, in my prediction, Isaac Dulgarian is not going to fight again. So does it really matter where he claims he’s training? Ultimately, where we sit today is in just a crazy mess with all these allegations. So the least of his concerns right now would be where he’s at and where he’s training.
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“I’m waiting just like you are, and the rest of these people are, to figure out whether or not this is true, or where he goes. So, at the end of the day, I can’t speculate. It’s not my job. That’s the FBI’s job.”
The del Valle loss was only the second of Dulgarian’s nine-fight career. Prior to his UFC run, Dulgarian gained a healthy amount of hype throughout his rise on MMA’s regional circuit, finishing all of his opponents in the first round.
Montoya said he isn’t considering welcoming Dulgarian back to the team at this early juncture. Should the fighter be absolved and cleared of all allegations, he would cross that bridge when it arose.
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“We had the conversation about allegations. He reassured me he wasn’t involved,” Montoya said. “I have no reason not to believe him. We reassessed like we would anytime.
“Whether it’s a distraction like this or something else, it’s not the first time I’ve had a fighter pre-fight, where I’ve had to go and have a conversation with them, because there’s not a fighter alive that walks in that cage that doesn’t have fear or worry or is scared because they’re getting ready to go fight another man. So I treated it just like that is — we have some news [about the betting line movement], let’s verify whether this is true or not. He reassured me it wasn’t. Then my job, like I said, is to continue to train my guys to win in life, train my guys to win in that cage. My full focus was then, ‘Awesome, let’s go win a fight and prove ourselves right. Let’s get after it.’ That ultimately was the discussion.”
Dulgarian, 29, received backlash almost immediately for his odd performance. Most notably, UFC welterweight Michael Chiesa ripped into the prospect on the ESPN+ broadcast desk, labeling the performance an “F-minus” and calling into question every move Dulgarian made.
From Montoya’s perspective having worked Dulgarian’s corner, regardless of how abnormally Dulgarian fought, the featherweight came in with no injuries and Montoya trusted what he was told.
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“I’m in the middle of a fight. What I’m thinking is the technical information that needs to be delivered to my fighter to not get submitted,” Montoya said. “So all I’m thinking is, ‘Talk him through [the submission]’ — and you could pull the corner audio if you want. ‘Talk him through passionately and with clear direction of how not to get submitted.’ That’s what I’m thinking.
“It’s not my job to get distracted in the corner. My job is to stay focused. My job, despite the noise I have to clear out. I’ve been doing this for 20 years as a head coach. I have coached UFC athletes for 15 years. I’m probably one of the more long-standing active coaches in the UFC. My job consistently has been to get these guys to win and turn out all the noise.
“He already reassured me that we’re good. So I’m going to trust my athlete.”
Ultimately, having any ties to a situation as volatile as Dulgarian’s brings several aspects of the fight game into question, which is why Montoya found it so important to speak on the matter. The potential actions of Dulgarian aren’t a reflection of Montoya and his gym, he stated.
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“My gym is being attacked, my integrity is being attacked,” Montoya said. “I just want to, first and foremost, say we have nothing to do with any of these allegations that are being brought upon us. People have asked me what my opinions are. To speculate right now is not my job. My job is to, right now, continue to lead and not react. With that said, we as a team, myself as a person, I’ve never been involved in any type of betting format. I’ve actually never even placed a sports bet in my entire life. I couldn’t tell you how to do it.
“My job has always been to train these guys to fight and win, train these guys to win in life. Those are my two jobs. I take that very seriously, and this is my life’s work. You can bet your a** that I would never, for any sort of money, sell my integrity or my word, because in life that’s all you have.
“All these worldly things that we look at — the cars, the houses, the money, all those things — those are worldly man-made things,” he continued. “We go and we leave ourself with one thing when we leave this Earth, and that’s our integrity and our word. You couldn’t pay me any amount of money to get rid of that.”
