After a fight-fixing allegation on the UFC Vegas 110 fight card on Nov. 1, social media exploded with unsubstantiated claims, conspiracy theories, and allegations of fight-fixing being rampant in the UFC.
Have fights been fixed in the UFC? It’s hard to say. In 2017, Korean fighter Tae Hyun Bang was sentenced to 10 months in prison for accepting a reported $92,000 bribe to throw his UFC fight with Leo Kuntz. He did not end up throwing the bout and won via split decision. The bribe was found out, however, and he received the 10-month sentence despite having not gone through with the scam and returning the bribe money.
The recent allegation comes on the heels of the NBA federal indictments alleging rigged sports betting. There’s an ongoing FBI investigation into irregular betting patterns in a fight that took place at UFC Vegas 64 in 2022 involving one of Jame Krause’s students.
While there have been suspicious incidents, former middleweight champion Michael Bisping adamantly says fight-fixing isn’t happening in the UFC, and certainly not by the fight promotion.
“The UFC is not rigged. It is not fixed. Geez, I can’t believe I have to say this,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “The reason that I am saying it is because I see so many trolls all over social media claiming now the UFC is rigged.”
Bisping called the claims, “Absolute, God damn nonsense.”
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“There’s a lot of people out there that like to talk sh*t, like to rip on the UFC. You know who they are. It’s the usual suspects,” Bisping said. “They’re making a mountain out of a molehill because this is an opportunity to talk badly about the UFC.
“Oscar De La Hoya, for example, said, ‘The UFC is being investigated by the FBI.’ No. The UFC called the FBI.”
In the history of the fight promotion, and thousands of fights, there have only been a handful, or less, of credible fight-fixing allegations. And one of them didn’t go through with it.
“I’ve even a part of the UFC for 20 years in January and I’ve never heard anything like this,” said the former middleweight titleholder.
