Top UFC Reporter Claims Fighters Have Been Approached About Fixing Fights: ‘This Is a Massive Issue’
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Top UFC reporter Ariel Helwani said on Monday that fighters have been approached with offers to fix fights in exchange for lucrative pay.
The day before, Helwani announced that featherweight fighter Isaac Dulgarian had been released by the company. Dulgarian’s release, Helwani said, was due to his Saturday night loss at UFC Vegas 110. Dulgarian was a heavy favorite in the fight, and the upset loss followed suspicious betting activity on multiple online sportsbooks.
Considering the circumstances, some have outright accused Dulgarian of fixing the fight by taking a dive and tapping out from a submission hold. Whatever the case may be, Helwani on Monday revealed that such a thing is not uncommon in the UFC world:
And my understanding is that this is not an isolated incident. And what I mean by that is, I have talked to multiple people who have either experienced or know of others who experienced situations where they have been approached about their willingness to do something like this. So I have been told by multiple people that they have been approached, they have been talked to and said, “Are you interested in this? Are you interested in throwing a fight for X amount of dollars?” I believe that’s what happened with Darrick Minner, and all signs right now are pointing to something of that sort happening here.
This is a massive issue for the UFC, and when you consider — now, I haven’t been told this part that I’m about to say — but when you consider the questionable refereeing as of late, you can’t help — I said this last week — you can’t help but let your mind go there, as well, because there’s no other possible explanation for some of the wacky stuff that we have seen as of late.
Helwani added that the act of fixing a fight for money would be “extremely easy to do,” citing the fact that low-level fighters make significantly less money and would be easier to entice.
In a statement to ESPN, a UFC spokesperson confirmed that the company was working with its “betting integrity partner” to investigate Dulgarian’s fight.
“Like many professional sports organizations, UFC works with an independent betting integrity service to monitor wagering activity on our events,” a UFC spokesperson told ESPN in the statement. “Our betting integrity partner, IC360, monitors wagering on every UFC event and is conducting a thorough review of the facts surrounding the Dulgarian vs. del Valle bout on Saturday, November 1. We take these allegations very seriously, and along with the health and safety of our fighters, nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport.”
