Ahead of his last fight in January against Deiveson Figueiredo, Brandon Moreno was forced to switch coaches as he prepared as his former coach, James Krause, was under investigation by gambling authorities.
Prior to a fight in November, U.S. Integrity, a betting-tracking company, was alerted to significant changes in odds involving a fighter Krause had worked with. The fighter, Darrick Minner, had lost via technical knockout and it was later discovered that he suffered an undisclosed injury during the fight.
The UFC looked into the situation and eventually threatened to ban fighters from events if they continued to train with Krause. Multiple agencies, including US Integrity and the Nevada State Athletic Commission, are still investigating. Krause did not respond to a message asking for comment.
The scandal parallels similar troubles in the NFL, as the league suspended six players indefinitely this offseason for violating its gambling policies.
In January, the UFC announced a year-long partnership with US Integrity to strengthen its education and enforcement efforts. Scott Sadin, the co-founder and chief operating officer of US Integrity, said the company has conducted personal and virtual trains with UFC personnel, fighters and their teams about the UFC’s gambling policies and laws in certain states, as well as review incidents. of previous betting policy violations involving reclassification of various sports competitions.
“We anonymize those case studies and give them real-world examples of what can go wrong if you aren’t diligent and don’t think proactively about what you shouldn’t be doing when it comes to sports betting.” Sadin said in an interview.