A betting integrity firm is conducting an investigation into Saturday's UFC Fight Night bout between Darrick Minner and Shayilan Nuerdanbieke after multiple sportsbooks reported suspicious betting activity in the hours leading up to the fight.
Nuerdanbieke defeated Minner by TKO in the opening round. Minner threw a body kick less than 30 seconds into the bout and immediately stumbled backward while clutching at his left leg. He threw another kick before covering up and falling to the canvas after a knee from Nuerdanbieke, who then poured on elbows and punches until the referee was forced to stop the fight.
Nuerdanbieke was a -220 favorite, but the odds swelled to -420 in the four hours leading to the fight as rumors began to spread that Minner would be entering the cage with a significant knee injury. Heavy money also came in on Nuerdanbieke by stoppage in the first round and for the fight to end in under 2.5 rounds.
Something fishy happened at #UFCVegas64 🤔#MorningKombat w/ @lthomasnews & @Bcampbell is LIVE: https://t.co/jZb3SAENMV pic.twitter.com/GIRi0nMEpN
— Morning Kombat (@morningkombat) November 7, 2022
With the movement, some sportsbooks pulled the fight off the board, and many filed reports through betting integrity firm U.S. Integrity. The UFC released a statement confirming that their partner firm, Don Best Sports, is also conducting an investigation.
"Like many professional sports organizations, UFC works with an independent betting integrity service to monitor wagering activity on our events," a UFC statement read. "Our betting integrity partner, Don Best Sports, a leading global supplier of real-time betting data for North American sporting events, will conduct a thorough review of the facts and report its findings. At this time, we have no reason to believe either of the athletes involved in the bout, or anyone associated with their teams, behaved in an unethical or irresponsible manner."
There could be significant fallout should it be found out that anyone involved in either team leaked information about Minner's injury to gamblers. Minner's own coach, James Krause, hosts the "1% Club" podcast and runs popular Discord channel, both of which are focused on betting tips.
The UFC recently banned all contracted fighters and their teams from placing wagers on fights.
