Why the FBI got involved: UFC 324 fight lasted hours before event due to gambling scandal

Dana White confirmed that the UFC has removed a lightweight fight between Michael Johnson and Alexander Hernandez from the UFC 324 card just hours before Saturday’s event kicked off, marking the latest incident in a growing pattern of betting issues that have drawn federal scrutiny on the promotion.

UFC withdraws fight hours for UFC 324 after betting irregularities

The UFC324 preliminary map The bout was removed after the promotion received alerts from Integrity Compliance 360 ​​(IC360), the official betting integrity partner, about unusual betting patterns detected in the hours leading up to the event. The decision came after several sportsbooks reported irregular betting activity and lowered market limits for the matchup, with some platforms opting to remove the battle from their boards entirely.

White discussed the cancellation during the post-fight press conference, in which he stated that he refused to repeat the mistakes he made during a previous gambling scandal. “We got a call from gaming integrity and I said, ‘I’m not doing this again,’ so we stopped fighting,” White told reporters. When asked about possible investigations, he confirmed that the FBI remains actively involved in broader investigations related to UFC betting. “Yeah, I mean, the FBI is already deeply involved in all this stuff anyway,” White said.

Industry sources indicated that betting interest was heavily focused on Johnson in early completion bets, according to multiple reports. The odds had changed dramatically in the last 48 hours before the event, with Hernandez going from a heavy favorite to almost even money. BetOnline brand manager Dave Mason announced on social media that his platform would impose lower limits due to irregular patterns and would not offer prop bets during the fight.

The cancellation represents a different approach than the UFC’s handling of a previous incident involving featherweight Isaac Dulgarian in November 2025. In that case, the promotion allowed the fight to go ahead despite warnings from IC360 about unusual betting patterns. Dulgarian, who came in as a significant favorite around -250, lost to Yadier del Valle by first-round submission after his odds dropped to -130 in the hours before the fight. The UFC released Dulgarian immediately after the fight, and the Nevada Athletic Commission suspended him pending an FBI investigation that remains ongoing.

White met with the FBI several times after the Dulgarian incident and warned fighters that the promotion would pursue criminal charges against anyone involved in fight manipulation. “We will immediately come after you with guns blazing, along with the FBI and whoever else we need to catch, and we will do everything we can to make sure you go to jail,” White stated during a TMZ interview in November 2025.

The UFC has faced multiple betting-related disputes in recent years, leading to increased enforcement of its gambling policies. The promotion tightened its rules in October 2022 to ban fighters from betting on UFC events, and expanded those restrictions to coaches, managers, trainers and other insiders in January 2023 following James Krause’s gambling scandal. That incident involved fighter Darrick Minner, who failed to disclose a serious knee injury ahead of his November 2022 fight with Shayilan Nuerdanbieke. The Nevada Athletic Commission imposed a 29-month suspension on Minner and a 36-month ban on his teammate Jeff Molina for placing bets with insider knowledge of the injury.

The UFC partnered with IC360 (formerly US Integrity) in January 2023 to monitor all gambling activity during UFC events and Dana White’s Contender Series. The promotion later adopted ProhiBet technology in September 2023, an encrypted platform designed to identify prohibited bets by UFC athletes, coaches, employees and officials in accordance with state-specific regulations.