Fight fixing is back in the news following last weekend’s UFC Vegas 110, with UFC enhancement integrity partner IC360 (formerly US Integrity) investigating the suspicious fight between Yadier del Valle and Issac Dulgarian.
Dulgarian, who lost by back-naked choke, was widely criticized for his inability to defend the submission. Before the fight, the moneyline shifted to de Valle, with significant amounts placed on del Valle’s victory in the first round.
That raised red flags.
Now, UFC featherweight Vince Morales has revealed that he was previously approached with an offer to host a fight, without specifying who or when.
“All this fighting stuff is crazy! I was approached to do it and it’s not something I could live with… even though I still lost the damn fight,” Morales said wrote on social media on Monday.
In a follow-up post, Morales responded when asked how much was at stake. “Penny is considering how big the deal is. 70,000,” he replied.
Cageside Press reached out to Morales about the incident, who clarified that the fight in question took place during COVID. “That was a long time ago, in Covid times. Fight week during the first week of the summit. It happened casually, so I didn’t even take it seriously,” he explained.
Morales is 0-3 in his second stint with the company, losing to Raul Rosas Jr. earlier this year. During his first run in the UFC, he posted a 3-5 record from 2018 to 2022. The timeline would likely make it his May 2020 fight with Chris Gutierrez at the Apex, UFC Vegas 1.
Morales obviously made the ethical decision, but that wasn’t always the case. South Korea’s Tae Hyun Bang was given a 10-month prison sentence in 2017 for his involvement in a fighting scandal at UFC Fight Night 79. Bang accepted just over $90,000 USD to host his fight with Leo Kuntz at the 2015 event.
Bang apparently got cold feet about the deal and ended up winning a split decision. The UFC had gotten wind of suspicious gambling activities at the time and had pre-emptively warned the fighters about a possible investigation, Kuntz said.
Then there was the more recent James Krause situation, in which the former GLORY MMA and Fitness coach sold betting tips – reportedly including inside information on his own fighters. Krause, who also worked under the radar for an offshore sportsbook, was exposed when one of his fighters, Darrick Minner, went down early with an undisclosed injury during his November 2022 fight with Shayilan Nuerdanbieke. The fight was again labeled suspicious due to surveillance of companies that noticed irregularities, and led to investigations by both US Integrity and the FBI.
Krause, Minner and UFC flyweight Jeff Molina, who had helped run a betting discord set up by James Krause, were all banned from the UFC.
8:15 PM ET – Story updated with additional information from Morales
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