UFC hirer Dana White has admitted that match-fixing is a “huge concern” for his company.
The prexy of the MMA whale told ESPN that it “could follow possible” that match-fixing occurred inwards the controversial Nov 5 fight back betwixt Darrick Minner and Shayilan Nuerdanbieke. He rapidly added that an investigation was ongoing and he “can’t mouth near any of this stuff.”
On Nov 11, he had said in that location was “absolutely 0 trial impression that anybody that was mired play on” the bout.
The featherweight sectionalization contend between Nebraska’s Minner and China’s Nuerdanbieke lasted just now 67 seconds. Minner, a vet of 40 UFC fights, injured himself inward the number 1 few seconds after landing place a kick on his opponent, who capitalized to win past a TKO.
But inwards the aftermath, sportsbooks reported an avalanche of suspicious bets coming inward on a Nuerdanbieke win in the first.
Late to the Party
Minner and his coach, St. James Krause, have got since been suspended by the NV State Athletic Commission (NSAC), pending the termination of investigations past several agencies, including the FBI. The UFC has prohibited all fighters trained by Krause from participating in its contests during these investigations.
Krause operated an MMA betting Discord pageboy and podcast and is known to hold been an enthusiastic better on bouts.
UFC prohibits its fighters, coaches, and stave from wagering on all contests, but it was hellishly later(a) to the party. That regularization came only when inwards October, to a lesser extent than a month before the controversial fight, and Little Joe years after sports betting became widely legal inwards the US.
Previous rules simply prohibited UFC fighters from betting on bouts they were straight mired in. All major US leagues, whose games are arguably harder to fix, get long had strict betting bans in place. Meanwhile, NASCAR was criticized for reacting tardily when it introduced a similar forbidding dorsum inward 2019.
Banned inwards Ontario
The controversy has sent reverberations around the betting markets. That was particularly dead on target inward Ontario and Alberta, which suspended its lines on all UFC contests, citing fears around integrity.
“Am I shocked the Canadian governance overreacted? I am not,” White told ESPN.
In every sport, somebody thinks they’re smarter than everybody else when really they’re the dumbest guy rope inwards the room,” White added. “And you testament catch caught — you will capture caught and you will move to prison. It is what it is.
“If you’re that dumb and you’re willing to use up that risk of exposure for money, ruin your living for money. We put up recount people until we’re naughty inwards the face. Same thing as steroids, performance-enhancing drugs. ‘Don’t perform it, USADA is testing, you’re gonna get under one's skin caught.’ But this is a unit other level. … If you’re that stupid, get playfulness in prison.”