Dana White on potential cheaters amid UFC gambling allegations: “I will be your worst enemy”

Dana White was quite matter-of-fact when discussing how he would handle contracted UFC combatants who have any intention to cheat amid the recent UFC gambling allegation situation. Isaac Dulgarian has been embroiled in controversy since his submission loss in the UFC last weekend, which raised the eyebrows of many. Dulgarian was a heavy betting favorite heading into the bout, but an abundance of money came in closer to the fight on his opponent Yadier del Valle, with an ample amount of first-round prop bets being placed.

During an interview with Jim Rome, White touched on a 1 PM afternoon call from IC 360, who is the betting integrity partner of the UFC. IC 360 mentioned that suspicious betting activity on the fight was happening, which resulted in the UFC reaching out to Dulgarian and his lawyer. They were asked if Dulgarian owed anyone money, if he was hurt, and if anything weird was going on, to where both the fighter and lawyer said no.

The UFC CEO and president mentioned to Rome how as soon as the fight wrapped up, White went to an adjacent area and called the FBI. There is now an ongoing federal investigation regarding the situation, and while Dulgarian has not yet been formally charged with anything related to throwing this fight, the fighter is no longer on the roster. An anonymous source speaking to the Associated Press mentioned that Dulgarian’s contract was already going to elapse anyway, but the optics are seen as curious by some observing the ongoing news story.

Offering up a cautionary message to anyone who might entertain engaging in this sort of impropriety as a UFC contracted athlete, White said,

“If you come in here to this business and you try to cheat… I will be your worst enemy. I will come after you and if you did it, I will do everything in my power to make sure you go to prison.”

Dana White dismisses reports of many more UFC fights being under investigation

Dana White mentioned during the same Jim Rome interview referenced above that he tells UFC fighters expressly that they cannot gamble on fights and that even White’s kids cannot bet on fights. The UFC figurehead also dismissed the talk of 100’s of fights being investigated in the UFC and mentioned how prior to this Dulgarian investigation, there has been such a small amount of reported instances in the UFC of similarly intimated activity.

A prior well-known instance that took place in 2022 involved Darrick Minner, who was then suspended as well as his coach James Krause, in what was a highly publicized, controversial scenario. Also, several years ago, Tae Hyun Bang was given a 10-month prison term in relation to planning to throw a bout vs. Leo Kuntz in South Korea on a UFC card there.