Though always present, sports betting has recently become a serious issue around the world. Betting lines are being rigged for financial benefit, and Dana White has finally hit his boiling point.
The NBA is likely the standout sport that has had major controversies with betting over the past few years, but the issue transcends individual organizations. Soccer and boxing are other sports riddled with ongoing problematic bets, and that complication has now seeped into the mixed martial arts world.
In late 2025, the UFC was alerted to a possible scandal involving one of its fights. Despite being flagged, the bout between Isaac Dulgarian and Yadier del Valle was allowed to go ahead, and the outcome raised further concerns.
Almost three months on from that controversy, matters haven’t improved. As the UFC prepared for its first event since switching over to Paramount, a fun lightweight clash between Michael Johnson and Alexander Hernandez was marked for suspicious behavior.
This time around, Dana White was taking no chances. Unlike previous matchups, White didn’t allow the Johnson vs. Hernandez fight to go ahead and scrapped it from UFC 324 days ahead of the event.
“Yeah, that’s what it is. It happened again,” White said as he confirmed a potential betting scandal caused the fight between Johnson and Hernandez to be cancelled at the last minute.
Related: Dana White meets FBI amid betting scandal
Rigging fights is a serious crime, and Dana White wants each of the fighters on his roster to know that he will be doing everything he can to prosecute those criminals.
As he works to make the company better, White has contacted the FBI in hopes of cracking down on anyone attempting to cheat the system.
“We got called from the gaming integrity service, and I said, ‘I’m not doing this sh*t again,'” White continued. “So we pulled the fight.”
