UFC star worried MMA will be ‘ruined’ by FBI | Sports News

UFC star Beneil Dariush warned that a fixed combat “ruins our sport” amidst an ongoing FBI investigation into suspicious betting line motion.

At roughly 1 p.m. on Saturday, a giant sum of money allegedly began being positioned on Yadier del Valle, who was a heavy betting underdog in opposition to Isaac Dulgarian at UFC Fight Night 263. Ahead of the bout, CEO Dana White — who supplied his two cents on a current eye poke controversy — was notified of the bizarre exercise by IC 360, a guess monitoring company.

White promptly known as Dulgarian and his lawyer, asking what they knew in regards to the motion, however was reassured that he had no involvement. Yet a number of hours later, the featherweight misplaced to Del Valle on the UFC Apex in Las Vegas by way of first-round submission — marking the primary stoppage defeat of his profession.

Speaking to MMA Junkie on Wednesday, Dariush described the incident involving Dulgarian as “wild” earlier than asserting that he’s by no means been requested to repair a combat over his decade-plus profession with the UFC. “I mean, this is wild,” Dariush stated. “I’ll be honest: No one’s ever approached me, and I think they know I’d never accept that.

“That being said, I think if the FBI’s involved, they’re going to have access to all [Dulgarian’s] messages, all his phone calls, all his records, so it’s not going to take long before they figure it out – unless he did the whole business face to face. But even then, I wouldn’t be surprised because what they could do is, they could basically track the location of your phone, and everybody’s phone you’ve been in contact with.

“It’ll be very difficult to get away with it, but it definitely sounds like he might have done it. The fact that they’re moving forward that quickly, there’s a good chance they already have information they need.”

Dulgarian is much from the one fighter who’s been investigated by the UFC following suspicious betting exercise. Back in 2022, Darrick Minner was launched by the promotion company after data concerning his lingering knee damage was seemingly unearthed forward of his bout in opposition to Shayilan Nuerdanbieke.

Once information of the health setback leaked, the betting strains subsequently moved closely in Nuerdanbieke’s favor. Minner, in the meantime, misplaced by way of first-round TKO.

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According to Dariush, related incidents threaten the integrity of the UFC in the event that they proceed to happen. “That totally ruins our sport if this is something happening on a regular basis,” he stated. “What I’m about to say is not going to be popular, but I’m not a believer in gambling. I’m not a fan of gambling, so I wonder if they’re just going to remove gambling, but I don’t know if we can. It’s outside of our control. It’s outside of the UFC’s control.”

As the UFC and FBI’s investigation continues to progress, Dulgarian has been launched from his contract. “If you try to do this, I’ve been very vocal and very open about this: We will be your worst enemy,” White stated. “We will immediately go after you, guns ablazing, with the FBI and whoever else we need to get. We will do everything we can to make sure you go to prison.”