The UFC is cooperating with the FBI over fight-fixing allegations raised after betting lines shifted dramatically for a fight involving Isaac Dulgarian this past weekend at UFC Vegas 110.
Originally listed as a sizable favorite in his fight, Dulgarian’s odds shifted towards opponent Yadier Del Valle in the hours leading up to the event, with some sportsbooks actually pulling some of the prop bets attached to the fight, such as wagers on a first-round finish. Dulgarian ended up being submitted in the first round, and afterwards several prominent sportsbooks, including William Hill and Caesars Sportsbooks, offered refunds to betters who placed wagers on the fight.
Now UFC CEO Dana White is breaking his silence on the whole ordeal after he says the promotion was first alerted by IC360 — a sports betting monitoring service partnered with the UFC — about “unusual action” involving the Dulgarian vs. Del Valle fight.
“We called the fighter and his lawyer and said, ‘What’s going on?’” White told TMZ Sports on Tuesday. “There’s some weird betting action going on in your fight. Are you injured? Do you owe anybody money? Has anybody approached you?’ And the kid said, ‘No, absolutely not. I’m going to kill this guy.’
“So we said OK. The fight plays out, 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.”
White said he spoke directly to FBI director Kash Patel, and the UFC has been meeting with FBI agents ever since the fight ended.
Dulgarian was released from the UFC, and the Nevada State Athletic Commission reportedly withheld his fight purse, although the commission hasn’t actually confirmed that yet.
“I talked to [Kash Patel] this morning and then we just had an office full of FBI agents in here,” White said. “If you try to do this, I’ve been very vocal and very open about this, we will be your worst enemy. We will immediately go after you, guns blazing, with the FBI and whoever else we need to get. We will do everything we can to make sure you go to prison.”
Of course this incident comes after a separate fight-fixing scandal rocked the UFC back in 2022 when a similar situation unfolded involving Darrick Minner and his coach James Krause. On that night, the betting lines once again shifted dramatically and Minner was ultimately finished by Shayilan Nuerdanbieke in just 67 seconds.
Minner was also released, and the UFC effectively banned Krause from having anything to do with fighters competing in the promotion any longer after an investigation was opened.
“So when this did happen a couple of years ago, whenever it was, that investigation is still ongoing and now will be a part of this investigation, too,” White said.
At this stage, White admitted it’s premature to blame Dulgarian for everything that unfolded and call him guilty, although he claims the investigation isn’t looking great for him right now.
“I hate to see anybody in our sport do anything illegal. But fight fixing is absolutely insane,” White said. “To get to this level and go out and be a part of [fight fixing], and I’m not saying this kid’s guilty. There’s 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. We approached him before the fight, he and his lawyer they denied that anything [was happening].
“Are you hurt? Are you injured in any way? Do you owe people money? Have you been asked to do anything illegal? We asked him all the questions and everything was ‘absolutely not, hell no.’ So the fight went on and then like I said, fight ended by finish in the first round. Literally walked out from the octagon into my room in the back and called the FBI.”
White also responded to rumors that the FBI has actually investigated other suspicious fights that have supposedly happened in the UFC over similar fight-fixing allegations.
“People out there talking ‘there’s hundreds of fights [under investigation].’ It’s total bullshit,” White said. “Total usual clickbait bullshit. IC360, our company, they monitor all of the betting. Like I said, they’re the best in the business. There aren’t hundreds of fights being investigated. All clickbait B.S.”
He also addressed several fighters taking to social media to say they’ve been approached about possibly throwing a fight in the UFC.
Veteran athletes such as Vince Morales, Vanessa Demopoulos and Lando Vannata all posted claims about fight-fixing allegations, although Morales and Vannata later walked that back and stated they were only joking.
It was no laughing matter for the UFC, however, with White saying anybody who’s allegedly been approached about fight fixing will soon have to answer to the FBI.
“You’re seeing things on the internet fighters are coming out and going ‘I was approached.’ Really?” White said. “Why didn’t you tell us that, or more importantly, why didn’t you tell law enforcement that you were approached? Now you’re saying that you were approached.
“It’s like if somebody comes up and says ‘Hey, I want you to rob a bank, I’m going to rob banks, want to go rob banks with me?’ You’re not going to tell law enforcement? It’s really weird fighters are coming out now saying they were approached. They’re going to be approached now by the FBI.”
