Dana White escalated the UFC’s response to a betting scandal on Tuesday, confirming direct FBI involvement and warning potential fixers of prison prosecution after suspicious betting patterns preceded featherweight Isaac Dulgarian’s first-round submission loss at UFC Vegas 110 on Saturday.
Dana White Warns Fixers Amid FBI Probe
Talking in an interview with TMZ, Dana White confirmed that the UFC turned conscious of irregular betting exercise roughly 1 p.m. on Saturday when IC360, an impartial sports activities betting monitoring agency contracted by the promotion, alerted officers to uncommon wagering on the struggle between Dulgarian and Yadier del Valle.
Dulgarian, who entered as a -250 favourite, noticed his odds shift to roughly -130 within the hour earlier than the bout. Massive sums of cash flowed in on del Valle, a +200 underdog, notably on a first-round end prop guess. A number of sportsbooks halted wagering on the matchup and later issued refunds to dropping bettors.
Dana White Talks Isaac Dulgarian Betting Scandal
White stated the UFC responded instantly by contacting Dulgarian and his authorized consultant to research the reason for the betting motion. “We referred to as the fighter and his lawyer and stated, ‘What’s occurring? There’s some bizarre betting motion occurring in your guess. Are you injured? Do you owe anyone cash? Has anyone approached you?’ And the child stated, ‘No, completely not. I’m going to kill this man,’” White acknowledged.
The struggle proceeded as scheduled. Del Valle submitted Dulgarian through rear-naked choke at 3:41 of the opening spherical, cashing the suspicious underdog bets and first-round end props that had generated the betting alert. Commentators Daniel Cormier and Michael Chiesa described the efficiency on broadcast as “white belt stuff,” suggesting the extent of technical execution appeared unusually poor.
White confirmed that instantly after the end, he contacted the FBI. “Actually, the very first thing we did was name the FBI. I’ve met with the FBI twice as we speak,” White stated on Tuesday. Throughout a morning assembly with federal brokers, White acknowledged he spoke instantly with FBI Director Kash Patel. “I talked to him this morning. We simply had an workplace filled with FBI brokers right here. When you strive to do that, we will probably be your worst enemy. We’ll instantly go after you weapons blazing with the FBI and do all the things we are able to to be sure to go to jail,” White stated.
The UFC launched Dulgarian from his contract on Monday, two days after the loss, although the promotion has not formally confirmed whether or not this instantly resulted from the betting investigation. The Nevada State Athletic Fee additionally withheld Dulgarian’s struggle purse pending the result of inquiries, although this motion stays unconfirmed by official channels.
White addressed hypothesis relating to different fighters claiming they’d been approached to repair fights, questioning why such issues weren’t reported to regulation enforcement instantly. “You’re seeing fighters popping out now saying, ‘Oh, I used to be approached.’ Actually? Why didn’t you inform us that? Or extra importantly, why didn’t you inform regulation enforcement that you simply have been approached?” White acknowledged. He steered fighters making such allegations would now face FBI interviews. “It’s like if any individual comes up and says, ‘Hey, I would like you to rob a financial institution.’ And also you don’t inform regulation enforcement? It’s actually bizarre that fighters are popping out now saying they have been approached. They’re going to be approached now by the FBI.”
White emphasised the UFC’s dedication to betting integrity monitoring. “IC360, the most effective guess monitoring firm within the enterprise,” White stated, operates repeatedly throughout all UFC occasions. “There aren’t a whole bunch of fights being investigated. It’s all clickbait BS. We’ve been with these guys for years. We take this very critically and we’re watching each single struggle that occurs within the UFC.”
Concerning the present investigation’s scope, White famous that an earlier betting scandal stays energetic. “The investigation from a few years in the past continues to be ongoing, and it’ll now be included into this present inquiry,” White acknowledged. That prior case concerned coach James Krause and fighter Darrick Minner. In 2022, Minner confronted Shayilan Nuerdanbieke at UFC Vegas 64 after suspicious betting exercise prompted sportsbooks to flag the matchup. Minner was knocked out in simply over a minute. Krause and Minner have been each suspended indefinitely by the Nevada State Athletic Fee for failing to reveal a pre-fight damage. The investigation has remained ongoing with out public decision as of March 2024.
White acknowledged the seriousness of any confirmed struggle manipulation whereas noting that no definitive proof has emerged relating to Dulgarian’s involvement. “I hate to see anyone in our sport do something unlawful. Struggle fixing is completely insane. And I’m not saying this child’s responsible, there’s no proof but, nevertheless it positively doesn’t look good,” White defined.
Caesars Sportsbook and William Hill responded to the suspicious end result by issuing refunds to bettors who positioned wagers on Dulgarian. “Cell clients with dropping bets on the Dulgarian struggle will obtain a money credit score inside 24 hours,” Caesars introduced. DraftKings additionally confirmed it was investigating the incident in coordination with integrity monitoring companies.
The UFC issued its personal formal assertion relating to the betting monitoring processes. “Like {many professional} sports activities organizations, UFC works with an impartial betting integrity service to observe wagering exercise on our occasions. Our betting integrity associate, IC360, displays wagering on each UFC occasion and is conducting an intensive overview of the info surrounding the Dulgarian vs. del Valle bout on Saturday, November 1. We take these allegations very critically, and together with the well being and security of our fighters, nothing is extra vital than the integrity of our sport.”
