Dana White has issued a blistering response to the allegations of fight fixing that have engulfed the UFC in recent days, claiming it was him who called the FBI to begin an investigation.
A number of gambling companies offered refunds on losing bets placed on Isaac Dulgarian’s fight against Yadier del Valle over the weekend. It came just days after the NBA was embroiled in its own betting scandal.
Suspicions were raised after a significant shift in odds before the Dulgarian fight. On Tuesday, the UFC cut Dulgarian, with White claiming he called the feds immediately after the first-round submission.
In the days since, there have been claims that hundreds of fights this year have been ‘flagged’ by ‘federal regulators,’ while several UFC fighters claimed they were offered bribes to throw bouts – before retracting their allegations
In an interview with TMZ, White said the UFC has been working with the FBI and its director, Kash Patel, in the wake of the Dulgarian-Del Valle fight. He also warned that athletes involved in fixed fights will end up in prison.
The UFC president said they were first alerted to ‘unusual’ betting activity around 1pm on fight day by their ‘betting integrity partner’ IC360.
Dana White has addressed the allegations of fight fixing that have engulfed the UFC
Yadier del Valle beat Isaac Dulgarian in a first-round submission via a rear naked choke
‘We called the fighter (Dulgarian) and his lawyer and said: “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.”‘
But after Del Valle won by a rear naked choke in the first round, White claims he ‘walked out from the octagon into my room in the back and called the FBI.’
The UFC president said he had met with the Feds twice on Monday. ‘I talked to him [Patel] this morning. But then we just had an office full of FBI agents in here,’ he said.
‘If you try to do this [fix fights] – I’ve been vocal and 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.’
White continued: ‘I hate to see anybody in our sport do anything illegal but fight fixing is absolutely insane. To get to this level and go out and be a part of [that]. I’m not saying this kid is guilty. There’s no proof he’s done this yet but I can tell you this: it definitely doesn’t look good.’
White took aim at recent claims about the scale of the FBI investigation, insisting that reports ‘there’s hundreds of fights under [investigation]’ was ‘total bulls***.’
He told TMZ: We’ve been with [IC360] for years and we get a report after every single fight we do… we take this very seriously and we’re watching every single fight that happens in the UFC.’
On Tuesday, three active fighters claimed they have been approached about deliberately losing fights. All denied taking the offers and later rowed back on their comments.
Lando Vannata claimed he was approached about throwing fights but retracted his allegations
Vince Morales said he was offered a bribe of $70,000 before insisting it was a ‘joke’ in ‘poor taste.’
Featherweight Lando Vannata claimed he was ‘approached seven times to throw a fight,’ while strawweight Vanessa Demopoulos said: ‘People have approached me to throw fights also. My integrity could never.’
Vanatta later posted on Instagram: ‘My lawyer has instructed me to stop trying to be funny on the internet and get back to training… to be clear I’ve never been approached about throwing a fight nor anyone I know.’
He added: ‘Because I’m not a h* and would never disrespect the martial arts for money.’ Reports claimed that Demopoulos also deleted her original comment.
Following their claims, White said: ‘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 Daily Mail contacted all three fighters for comment.
