Dana White has slammed fighters who have suggested they were approached to fix fights amid the ongoing investigation into alleged unusual betting patterns ahead of a fight in Las Vegas last week.
The UFC was alerted by betting watchdog, Integrity Compliance 360 (IC360), to abnormal betting interest in relation to Yadier del Valle’s victory over Isaac Dulgarian.
The latter came into the fight as a heavy favourite but lost by first-round submission.
Dulgarian was subsequently released by the promotion, with the UFC now working with the FBI on an investigation.
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White told TMZ that IC360 reached out to the UFC about “unusual action” that the promotion was unaware of before going on to reveal that the “first thing we did was call for the FBI” after the fight ended.
The UFC president claimed he met the FBI on two occasions on Tuesday.
This is the second federal investigation into suspicious betting activity regarding the UFC, with former fighter and coach James Krause suspended in 2023 after a bout involving his student, Darrick Minner, drew unusual betting activity, as reported by ESPN.
Minner lost the fight in round one, and it was later revealed that he fought despite having a pre-existing injury. White claimed the investigation is ongoing.
Several fighters have also come forward with claims that they, too, have been approached about “throwing” fights with Vince Morales posting on X: “All this throwing the fight stuff is crazy! I’ve been approached about doing it, and it’s not something I could live with … even though I ended up losing the damn fight anyways.”
When one fan asked how much Morales was offered, the veteran replied: “£70k”.
His post has since been deleted.
Meanwhile, Vanessa Demopoulous made a similar claim in an Instagram comment.
The strawweight fighter wrote: “Yeah, people have approached me to throw fights also. My integrity could never. We’ve spent our lives learning skills and honouring this sport. Can’t believe people compromise their morals like this.”
And despite the worrying claims from UFC fighters, White insists fight-fixing is not a wider problem for the promotion.
The 56-year-old hit back at fighters who have come forward about allegedly being approached and questioned why they haven’t previously told the UFC about it.
White told TMZ: “Why didn't you tell us that? More importantly, why didn't you tell law enforcement that you were approached? Now you're saying you were approached?”
He continued: “It's really weird that fighters are coming out now saying they were approached. They're going to be approached now by the FBI.”
The UFC returns on November 9 as Gabriel Bonfim takes on Randy Brown in the main event of UFC Vegas 111.
Topics: UFC, Dana White
Luke Davies