UFC President Dana White has stressed his “huge concern” over suspicions of fight fixing within the league as investigations continue into alleged impropriety relating to a bout promoted by his organization last month.
A November fight between Darrick Minner and Shayilan Nuerdanbieke remains under investigation for alleged insider betting after a suspicious surge in gambling activity in the hours before the contest, with heavy wagers being placed on Minner to lose within the first round.
Minner, who appeared to be injured when the fight began, was finished 67 seconds into the fight by Nuerdanbieke.
He was subsequently released by the promotion and his coach, James Krause was suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission pending the findings of its investigation. Krause operates a betting tips website, which had close to 5,000 members before it was recently shut down.
There are no allegations of illegality concerning Nuerdanbieke.
Addressing the issue on ESPN ahead of Saturday’s UFC 282 fight card in Las Vegas, White was tight-lipped but did admit that fight fixing may have occurred.
“Huge concern,” he said. “Now that there’s an investigation and it could be possible that it happened, yeah.”
ESPN further reported that the FBI had opened its own probe into the matter, but while White said investigations were underway, he added that he was unable to reveal their extent.
“There’s an investigation going on,” said White. “I can’t talk about any of this stuff. It’s crazy.”
The UFC had previously stated that there were “multiple ongoing government investigations” taking place.
Several gambling markets in the United States and Canada have taken steps against potential fraud, with the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Alberta temporarily issuing a blanket ban on UFC betting.
“We’ve always told the fighters, as all the gambling stuff started to heat up, stay away from gambling,” White added. “Do you know how stupid you have to be to get involved in something like that?
“In every sport, somebody thinks they’re smarter than everybody else when really they’re the dumbest guy in the room.
“And you will get caught. You will get caught and you will go to prison. It is what it is. If you’re that dumb and you’re willing to take that risk for money. Ruin your life for money.
“We can tell people until we’re blue in the face. Same thing as steroids, performance-enhancing drugs. ‘Don’t do it, USADA is testing, you’re gonna get caught.’ But this is a whole other level.
“If you’re that stupid, have fun in prison.”