Isaac Dulgarian’s first-round submission loss to undedog Yadier del Valle on Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 263 is now under investigation due to suspicious betting activity, and now some UFC veterans are starting to speak out with their experience of having been offered money to lose a fight.
Vince Morales has fought 11 times under the UFC banner over the years and has revealed that he was approached about throwing a fight.
“All this throwing the fight stuff is crazy!” 34-year-old Morales wrote on X in a since-deleted post. “I’ve been approached about doing it and it’s not something I could live with…even though I ended up losing the damn fight anyways.”
Morales was then asked how much he’d been offered.
“Penny’s considering how big of a deal it is,” Morales replied. ” 70k.”
Morales has since offered up some extra details about when the incident occurred.
“That was way back in the covid times,” Morales told Cageside Press. “Fight week during the first week of apex. Happened in passing so I didn’t even take it serious.”
It appears Morales isn’t the only one as his comments prompted UFC women’s strawweight fighter Venessa Demopoulus to claim that she’s been asked more than once to deliberately lose a bout.
“Yeah people have approached me to throw fights also,” Demopoulus wrote. “My integrity could never. We’ve spent our entire lives learning skills and honoring this sport. can’t believe people compromise their morals like this.”
Former UFC fighter Lando Vannata had 13 fights in the Octagon and claims he was asked to fix fights on a frequent basis.
“I was approached seven times to throw a fight,” Vannata wrote. “My record reflects my integrity.”
Meanwhile, reporter Ariel Helwani has also suggested that the Dulgarian situation may just be the tip of the iceberg.
“My understanding is that the Dulgarian controversy is not an isolated incident,” Helwani wrote. “I’ve spoken to multiple people who have either experienced or know of others who have been approached about their willingness to do something like this.”
