When news broke last month regarding allegations of potential fight fixing inside the UFC, company president Dana White was adamant the ordeal was a non-issue.
An update to the UFC’s Athlete code of conduct that restricted any contracted athlete and their coaches, friends, and family from wagering on any UFC bout was imposed shortly thereafter – but at the time, White assured reporters the move was more for optics than anything else.
“There’s absolutely zero proof that anybody that was involved bet on it,” White told TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter of the allegations leveled against UFC featherweight Darrick Minner and his coach, James Krause shortly after the news broke.
That tone has since changed.
During a recent interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, White now admits the potential of fight fixing in the sport is a ‘huge concern’ – a fear he shares with both the Alberta and Ontario province’s gaming commissions, who recently banned gambling on UFC events in light of allegations against James Krause and Darrick Minner.
“Now that there’s an investigation and it could be possible that it happened. Now it’s something that we really have to—” White interjected himself.
“You know, we’ve always told fighters – as all the gambling stuff started to heat up – ‘Stay away from gambling. Obviously, don’t – I mean, do you know how stupid you have to be to get involved in something like that? Everybody – it gets caught. You always get caught. And all they have to do is follow the money. Follow the money, you know? But there’s a lot of people in prison for really dumb stuff. People really are that stupid and, you know, things are gonna happen.
“And if this is all true,” he continued. “And this investigation ends up that this really happened people are going to go to prison. People aren’t going to go to jail, people are going to go to prison. And hopefully, everybody else is watching and taking notes.”
White declined to comment further on the investigation, given its currently pending status.
The AllStar MMA roundup
- The AllStar MMA Live: UFC 282 Reaction, Recap with Sasha Palatnikov
The best of the rest
- U.S. State Department aware of UFC fighter ties to dictator Ramzan Kadyrov, discourages travel to Chechnya – MMAJunkie.com
- UFC 283 opening odds have Jamahal Hill as slight favorite over Glover Teixeira – MMAJunkie.com
- Dana White: Potentially renewed UFC broadcast deal could put Contender Series on ESPN – MMAJunkie.com
- Ilia Topuria: UFC protecting Paddy Pimblett from me – MMAFighting.com
- Scott Coker happy to let Dillon Danis book boxing match against KSI: ‘You’re going to have your hands full, young man’ – MMAFighting.com
The soapbox
BJ Penn shows off his belt collection on his Birthday:
Jared Gordon proposes a rematch:
Henri Hooft shows video proof that Usman’s not injured:
Moicano wants… Paddy:
Merab doing Merab things:
Tony Time:
The morning view
Hiromasa Ougikubo previews his bout at Bellator vs Rizin on New Years Eve:
The Weasle dives into the recent judging scandal:
MMA On Point details the worst MMA commissions out there:
Rehash some of the most abusive standing TKO’s:
Done Deals
Wednesday
- Mateus Mendonça to fight Javid Basharat at UFC Vegas 67 on January 14th (per AG Fight)
- Joel Álvarez to fight Zubaira Tukhugov at UFC 284 on February 11th (per Eurosport News)
Tuesday:
- Erick Gonzalez to fight Darrius Flowers at UFC Vegas 68 on February 25th (per MMA Island)
- Daniel Marcos to fight Saimon Oliveira at UFC 283 on January 21st (per Giano Alva
Monday:
- Glover Teixeira will fight Jamahal Hill at UFC 283 on January 21st (per Dana White)
- Viviane Araújo to fight Amanda Ribas at UFC 285 on March 4th (per Dana De Ferro MMA)
UFC Roster Watch
Fighters removed this week:
- Benito Lopez
Fighters Added this week:
- Bobby Green (suspension ended)
- Alessandro Costa
Credit to UFC Roster Watch
On this day in MMA…
On the 14th of December, 2019, Alexander Volkanovski became the UFC featherweight champion at UFC 245 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The surging Australian contender, hot on a 17-fight win streak, met Hawaii’s long-reigning 145-pound champion, Max Holloway, in the pay-per-view’s co-main event at the T-Mobile Arena. Little did Holloway know at the time, the ‘Blessed’ era was about to come to a screeching halt.
Volkanovski implemented his game plan to perfection that night. Relying heavily on calf kicks, feints, hand fighting, and his own speed advantage, the title challenger put on a virtuoso performance that had seemingly left Holloway perplexed.
After 25 minutes of a non-stop striking affair, the judges were summoned to deliberate. The final verdict was a unanimous decision victory in favor of the Australian challenger. The battle had concluded, but the war was only in its infancy. The pair of featherweight greats would duke it out twice more over the following two years – the modern-day warriors ultimately spending a total of an hour and fifteen minutes locked inside of a cage together. However, despite a second and third chance at redemption, in the end, Holloway would come up short on both occasions.