Daniel Cormier has recalled the moment he unknowingly criticized a UFC fighter on live commentary, only to later learn the bout had been flagged over suspected betting irregularities.
Speaking on the In the Bayou podcast, the UFC Hall of Famer explained that he was working commentary for a fight at the UFC APEX when one competitor’s grappling immediately caught his attention for all the wrong reasons.
One time they had a fight in the UFC APEX and this one dude was grappling. He was so horrible at grappling. I’m on the commentary, and I’m just going, ‘How in the world is this kid so bad?'
“DC” said he spent the fight questioning the athlete’s fundamentals, believing the performance simply wasn’t UFC caliber.
I’m literally just breaking him down because I’m like this technique is just not up to par. It’s just not up to snuff. He’s so bad. These are basic things that you should be able to do and defend.
It wasn’t until after the event that Cormier said UFC officials informed him the fighter had come under investigation over suspected fight-fixing.
Come to find out this dude was trying to throw the fight but not doing a good job of it. The whole time I’m just on him.
The former two-division UFC champion added that the MMA promotion immediately took the situation seriously.
They call me and they were like, ‘DC, the fact that you were calling him out and you had no idea what was going on.’ But when the kid lost the way that he did, they took him in the back because the FBI is already there.
Although Cormier never identified the fighter, the circumstances appear to align with the investigation surrounding Isaac Dulgarian’s loss to Yadier del Valle at UFC Vegas 110. Dulgarian has denied any wrongdoing, and no finding of guilt has been announced.
Cormier also explained how closely betting markets are now monitored by regulators and the promotion.
The FBI starts watching these betting lines, and if something looks off, they pull the fight. They’ve done that a number of times now.
He pointed to dramatic betting swings before events as a major warning sign.
They’ve had guys weigh in and then the betting swings in one direction. So that makes people think maybe somebody’s injured, somebody has told somebody something, there’s something going on to make this line swing so much, so the UFC pulls the fight. They don’t play with that.
“DC” finished by stressing why protecting the integrity of the sport remains essential.
You have to keep it authentic. It has to be real.
The same interview also touched on the fake Eric Trump exchange posted from Cormier’s account around UFC Freedom 250. Cormier has maintained his account was hacked and the messages were not his, and told the hosts he would never put himself publicly between the UFC, the Trump family, and a question about rigged fights.
