After sportsbooks noticed suspicious betting activity on a UFC bout in Las Vegas last weekend, UFC boss Dana White says he is extremely concerned about allegations the match was fixed.
White said UFC notified the FBI about Yadier del Valle vs. Isaac Dulgarian – a fight that saw a strange and widespread betting line movement hours before it happened. At UFC Fight Night 263, the heavy favorite Dulgarian lost by first-round submission – the first stoppage loss of his career.
The bout was apparently questionable enough that several online sportsbooks, including Caesars Sportsbook, said they would refund bets that users placed on Dulgarian to win.
White told TMZ in an interview on Tuesday, Nov. 4, that he received notice from a monitoring company about unusual betting activity on the Dulgarian bout before it began.
‘So what we did was, we called the fighter and his lawyer, and said, ‘What’s going on? There’s some weird action going on in your bet, some weird betting action going on with 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 and 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, so that’s the whole thing.’
White emphasized that allegations of match-fixing should not cast doubt on the validity of other UFC bouts. He says UFC is in constant contact with its monitoring company, IC 360, which is following every fight.
Dulgarian has yet to be found guilty of any illegal act, but White says the investigation is still ongoing.
‘I’m not saying this kid is guilty,’ White said. ‘There is 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.’
On Monday, MMA Junkie, part of the USA TODAY Network, confirmed an earlier report that Dulgarian was released from his UFC contract.