Dana White, the president and CEO of the UFC, spoke extensively Tuesday night about the recent betting scandal that has rocked his mixed-martial arts promotion, telling TMZ Sports that he immediately called the FBI after the scrutinized fight had ended.
According to White, the UFC was alerted by IC360 — the promotion’s sports betting watchdog integrity partner — on Saturday about unusual betting activity on that night’s upcoming fight in Las Vegas between featherweights Isaac Dulgarian and Yadier del Valle.
After IC360 notified UFC, White said he called Dulgarian and Dulgarian’s lawyer before the fight and asked, “What’s going on? 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.’”
What happened in the fight
Dulgarian entered the night with a 7-1 record and a reputation as an up-and-coming grappler in the 145-pound featherweight division. He was considered a decent favorite with -250 betting odds hours before the fight, but moved to -150 at most sportsbooks in the hour leading up to the match when suddenly an unusual number of bets began pouring in for the underdog del Valle.
During the bout, Dulgarian opened the action with a head kick that was blocked before shooting for a double-leg takedown, all within the first 30 seconds. But after del Valle sprawled to stuff the takedown, Dulgarian seemed to foolishly give up his back, allowing del Valle to spend the next two minutes moving into a dominant body triangle position before del Valle — a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt — began looking for a rear-naked choke on Dulgarian’s neck.
“Dulgarian is punching, he’s got his neck, that’s a mistake,” UFC commentator and Hall of Fame fighter Daniel Cormier said on the broadcast, later calling Dulgarian’s defense “white belt stuff.”
A minute later, after Dulgarian was flattened out and ate dozens of punches, he tapped out to a choke.
“As I said on Thursday, I wasn’t worried at all (about a takedown) because I am a black belt in jiu-jitsu,” del Valle, who is Cuban, said after the fight via a translator.
“We knew that he was going to take us down to the ground, and we knew that I wasn’t going to be worried at all.”
Dulgarian tapped out to a rear-naked choke in the first round against del Valle. (Photo: Chris Unger / Zuffa LLC)
What happened next
White said Tuesday the UFC called the FBI immediately after the fight ended. According to multiple reports, Dulgarian was released from the roster by Monday, news that was first reported Sunday by Yahoo Sports. The UFC did not respond to a request for confirmation on Wednesday that Dulgarian was released, but his fighter page on UFC.com has been marked as “Not Fighting.”
The UFC president said he spoke with FBI director Kash Patel on Tuesday and had “an office full of agents” in the promotion headquarters. Nearly two weeks ago Patel announced more than 30 arrests were made in an illegal gambling and sports rigging operation involving NBA games.
“I’m not saying this kid’s guilty,” White told TMZ. “There’s no proof that he’s done this yet. But I can tell you this: it doesn’t look good.”
White added, “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 a-blazing, with the FBI and whoever else we need to get, and we will do everything we can to make sure you go to prison.”
Is this an isolated incident?
The UFC weathered a similar scandal two years ago, when a large number of bets against fighter Darrick Minner poured in hours before his fight. Minner was an underdog coming into the bout against Shayilan Nuerdanbieke, but the volume of wagers moved betting lines and made him an even larger underdog by fight night. Suspicions arose that he was entering the bout with an undisclosed injury. Shortly into the fight, Minner threw a kick with his leg, which was later revealed to be injured, then struggled mightily en route to a technical knockout loss.
In the aftermath, Minner and his coach, James Krause, were suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission. ESPN later reported that Krause had been acting as an agent for an offshore bookmaking operation for years.
One month after his suspension, the UFC announced that fighters training under Krause would be banned from the promotion if they did not dissociate with the coach. Dulgarian was one of the fighters who trained under Krause in 2022, and he was forced to join another fight camp.
White said Tuesday night that the investigation into Dulgarian’s fight will now be tied into the ongoing investigation from Minner’s 2022 fight.
In the days since Saturday’s event, other fighters have revealed on social media that they have been approached about throwing fights. Vince Morales, who has had 11 UFC bouts and whose most recent bout took place in March, said he was offered $70,000 to lose. Vanessa Demopoulos, a women’s flyweight with 10 fights in the UFC, said she also has been approached about throwing fights.
White bristled at those allegations on Tuesday night. “You’re seeing things on the internet where fighters are coming out and going, ‘Oh, I was approached (to throw a fight),’” White said. “Oh, really? Why didn’t you tell us that? Why didn’t you tell law enforcement you were approached? Now you’re saying that?
“It’s really weird that fighters are coming out now saying they were approached, and they’re going to be approached now by the FBI.”