Nuerdanbieke Shayilan-Darrick Minner Under Investigation for Suspicious Betting Activity

Some crazy line movement in the Shayilan Nuerdanbieke vs. Darrick Minner fight over the last 90 minutes.

Average odds have moved from -237 to -362 for Shayilan

— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) November 5, 2022

A recent Ultimate Fighting Championship bout is under the crosshairs of an important betting organization.

On Saturday, Nuerdanbieke Shayilan faced and defeated Darrick Minner at UFC Fight Night 214. Shayilan absorbed a body kick, and Minner clutched at his leg and hobbled back to the cage wall. A knee from the Chinese fighter and some vicious ground-and-pound elbows put an end to the match at 1:07 of Round 1, but that was only part of the story. Ahead of their pairing – as in, within hours of the matchup, after the fight card had begun – some unusual betting activity developed.

Multiple individuals and outlets on social media, including TSN, began to notice that significant money had come in on Shayilan to win the fight. The line moved across the sportsbooks from a favorable -220 to a massive -370, on average, in the span of just a few hours. Additionally, the betting lines of the fight lasting under 2.5 rounds moved from about -140 to -190 in that same stretch of time. This, as rumor spread on social media, may have been due to an injury that Minner carried into the contest.

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According to ESPN on Sunday night, this shift in the action did not go unnoticed by the sportsbooks. The unnamed bookmakers contacted the firm U.S. Integrity, which is an independent, non-government organization that reviews and analyzes the sports betting landscape. U.S. Integrity typically works with both the books and the state gaming departments to notify them of any suspicious behavior or problematic circumstances.

“Our goal as always is to notify the industry of any potential nefarious, abnormal or suspicious activity as soon as possible, so they can take action as quickly as possible,” Matthew Holt, president of U.S. Integrity told ESPN. “In this case, we hope that by sending a couple hours before the fight started, we may have helped prevent some more suspicious bets from getting through.”

According to the ESPN report, Minner’s knee was “absolutely injured” prior to the fight. However, Minner’s manager, Andrew Lee, stated he was “unaware of anything like this.” As fight night progressed, fans and media members alike speculated as to the knowledge of the injury. Sections of the fanbase believed that Minner lost on purpose, and other parts felt that Minner should have not been medically cleared to fight in the first place. This concern follows the unfortunate showing of T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 280, where he was allowed to compete despite major damage to his shoulder that at least in part contributed to his loss to Aljamain Sterling. Ahead of that bantamweight title fight, the betting line did not shift much on fight day, but rumors of Dillashaw’s shoulder injury had not spread before his matchup.

The UFC recently released a policy change regarding betting on fighters. Specifically, those related to, training with or otherwise close to specific athletes cannot bet on their matches. This follows practically every major sport, although it came with some backlash from the competitors as many rely on betting on themselves as a major income stream. This internal regulation prohibits fighters from betting on themselves, or more importantly, betting against themselves. It also disallows them from placing bets on their matches, including round or decision-based lines, to avoid any appearance of impropriety.