Dulgarian was a -240 favorite coming into his main card fight against Yadier del Valle, but in the hours leading up to the match something strange happened: a lot of money started coming in on del Valle to win in the first round.
As the fight approached, Dulgarian’s line shrunk to -130 … at least amongst sportsbooks still taking action. Many shut down bets on the fight, and — after Dulgarian did indeed lose in the first via a very poorly defended rear naked choke — several large bookies took the extremely unusual step of refunding players with Dulgarian in their bets.
The UFC hasn’t made any official statement regarding the situation, but on Sunday they quietly cut Dulgarian according to Uncrowned’s Ariel Helwani.
“The official reason was attributed to last night’s loss,” Helwani wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “However, the bout has been the center of controversy after a ton of money started to come in on Dulgarian, a sizable favorite, to lose in the first, which is what happened.”
So was this some blatant fight rigging or another example where a fighter competed sick or injured, with word of said handicap making it out into the betting world? A similar incident occurred back in 2022 with Darrick Minner, whose line swung wildly leading into his fight. He’d lose in the first round and it was later disclosed that he fought with a badly injured knee.
But a quick glance a little closer into Minner’s world revealed that his coach James Krause was running a sizeable sports betting ring where people payed for online access to his picks. Krause, Minner, and others were suspended for years and ejected from the UFC, with the promotion declaring that anyone who continued to train under Krause would be kicked off the roster.
What will be discovered when people look a little closer into Dulgarian’s situation? It’s already been noted that Dulgarian used to train under Krause and now trains with Factory X, where several of Krause’s former students went. There’s also video footage of Dulgarian saying fighters deserve a piece of all the money being bet on them.
With sports betting only becoming more prominent and fighter pay still sitting so low for those competing on Apex cards, we’re shocked this kind of obvious corruption doesn’t bubble to the surface more often. The question now is whether this situation is investigated thoroughly or pushed under the rug.