ESPN reports that a fight this past Saturday is under investigation for betting irregularities. The fight between Darrick Minner and Shayilan Nuerdanbieke is being investigated after several sportsbooks in multiple states reported suspicious wagering.
U.S. Integrity, a betting integrity firm which investigates suspicious betting activity, is investigating the fight. According to ESPN, heavy money came in on Neurdanbieke to win in the first round by knockout. Also, the under of 2.5 rounds was heavily bet on that some sportsbooks took the fight off the board (stopped bettors from putting money on the proposition).
Per ESPN, rumors circled that Minner was injured and Neurdanbieke’s odds to win the fight moved from -220 to -420 four hours before the fight. Within the first minute of the fight the rumors were revealed to be correct with Minner appearing injured by throwing a kick which allowed Neurdanbieke to pounce for the TKO stoppage at 1:07 in the first round.
In November 2017, a UFC fight was investigated for potential match fixing. Two individuals were indicted for attempting to bribe Bang Tae-hyun to throw a fight against Leo Kuntz. Bang decided not to go through with it and won via split-decision. The match was under suspicion of impropriety due to wide swings in gambling lines.
Last month, the UFC issued a statement which prevented fighters and their teams from wagering on UFC fights.
Payout Perspective:
It would appear that the investigation would be centered around insider information about Minner’s injury. One of the reasons that the UFC is cracking down on fighters and teams betting on fights is to prevent incidents where someone knows about an injury which may help gamblers. With the UFC sponsored by gaming outlets and actively soliciting odds information, the company must crackdown on any appearance of insider information and/or fight fixing for the integrity of the sport.
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