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While MMA and pro-wrestling are often considered close cousins, the big difference between the two is obviously that in pro-wrestling, results are predetermined, while the same cannot be said for the UFC and other MMA promotions.
Over the years, though, a number of fights in the UFC have been rumoured to have been thrown, fixed or “worked”, just like the matches that fans see in pro-wrestling.
Sometimes there’s genuine reason for these suspicions, while on other occasions, the accusations are simply baseless, but entertaining nonetheless.
With that in mind, here are five UFC fights that were accused of being fixed.
#5. Don Frye vs. Mark Hall – UFC Ultimate Ultimate 1996
The UFC’s early shows all followed a tournament format that saw fighters have to compete in multiple bouts if they wanted to come out on top, and naturally, this meant that conserving energy and avoiding damage was paramount to success.
Of course, then, if a fight could be won in quick fashion, then this was hugely beneficial – and so eyebrows were raised at the Ultimate Ultimate 1996 show when former tournament winner Don Frye quickly dispatched semi-final opponent Mark Hall with an Achilles lock in just 20 seconds.
The result didn’t seem overly suspicious at the time, as ‘The Predator’ had already beaten Hall twice before, although their first fight had lasted ten minutes, and their second had lasted five.
However, rumours quickly emerged that Frye’s manager had supposedly colluded with Hall prior to the bout in order to convince him to take a dive, leaving ‘The Predator’ fresh to face off with Tank Abbott in the tournament final.
In a later interview, though, Frye pleaded his innocence – stating that he’d slapped on the Achilles lock tightly, and despite legendary referee John McCarthy believing Hall had taken a dive, that simply wasn’t the case.
Quite what the truth is remains unknown, as it obviously would’ve been possible for Frye’s manager to collude with Hall without Frye’s knowledge. Given the time that has passed since the incident, fans will probably never find out the whole story.
#4. Rich Franklin vs. Ken Shamrock – TUF 1 Finale
When the UFC matched rising star Rich Franklin with fading legend Ken Shamrock at the first Ultimate Fighter finale in early 2005, the idea was clearly to have the young lion take the torch from his aging counterpart.
However, when ‘Ace’ dispatched Shamrock with a first round TKO, a conspiracy theory quickly emerged that suggested the promotion had paid ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ to “put over” Franklin by taking a dive.
In this case, the evidence called upon was the strange nature of Shamrock’s performance. Early in the bout, the veteran appeared to have been dropped by a right hand by Franklin, only for replays to seemingly show that no punch had landed.
While the moment didn’t lead to the end of the fight – which saw Shamrock miss a head kick and fall victim to a flurry of punches – it was enough for accusations of a thrown fight to quickly emerge.
However, the fact that Shamrock didn’t seem stunned, and instead used the momentary chaos to lock up a heel hook attempt didn’t suggest a dive.
Instead, it looked like the veteran’s move was actually a calculated attempt to pull off a diving leglock – a move popularized at the time by Japanese star Ryo Chonan – that simply didn’t pay off.
Given that Shamrock would go onto suffer numerous similar TKO defeats, the truth is more likely to be that he was overmatched at the end of his career by a far better-prepared opponent.
#3. Leo Kuntz vs. Tae Hyun Bang – UFC Fight Night 79
While there’s a lack of concrete evidence that most of the fights on this list were actually fixed, one that everyone knows for sure was shady was the lightweight bout between Leo Kuntz and Tae Hyun Bang at UFC Fight Night 79 in 2015.
At the time, there didn’t seem to be a lot wrong with the fight, which featured some back-and-forth action both standing and on the ground and ended with Bang claiming a split decision win.
However, just over a year later, the MMA world was stunned when Bang was sentenced to a ten-month prison sentence in his native South Korea for apparently taking a bribe to throw the clash with Kuntz.
According to reports, ‘Supernatural’ received a total of $92,160 from three “brokers”, and in turn, he placed half of the bribe on Kuntz to win the bout.
Before he could go through with it, though, something triggered the Korean fighter to change his mind and led him to actually pull off the victory.
Kuntz himself later shed light on this, stating that the UFC had spoken to both he and Bang about the odd betting swings on the fight – suggesting that if anything suspicious were to happen, it’d be investigated immediately.
Regardless, this is a rare example of a fight in the octagon that was definitely intended to be fixed, even if it didn’t quite work out that way.
#2. Oleg Taktarov vs. Anthony Macias – UFC 6
If, as was discussed earlier, Don Frye’s manager indeed paid Mark Hall to take a dive in order to leave his fighter fresh for a tournament final with Tank Abbott, there’s a chance he might’ve taken inspiration from an incident that took place a year earlier at UFC 6.
That event saw one of the most controversial fights in octagon history, as Oleg Taktarov submitted alternate Anthony Macias with a guillotine choke in just nine seconds – setting a record for the promotion’s fastest-ever submission that stands to this day.
The win sent a fresh Taktarov into the tournament final, where he was able to overcome a tired Abbott to claim a victory. It didn’t take long, though, for rumours of a fix to emerge.
According to many people, Taktarov and Macias shared a manager, who instructed ‘The Pitbull’ under no uncertain terms to ensure that Taktarov won. More to the point, Macias was known as a kickboxer and not a grappler – so why he shot in for a takedown in the opening seconds was anyone’s guess.
Concrete proof that the fix was in has never been provided, even over two decades later, but given what has been suggested about the bout, it’s likely that the suspicions around it were probably correct.
#1. Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez – UFC 205
Conor McGregor’s knockout win over Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title at UFC 205 remains one of the biggest victories in the history of the promotion.
Not only did it make ‘The Notorious’ the first fighter to hold two titles in separate weight classes simultaneously, but it led directly to his mega-money boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, essentially allowing him to transcend the sport of MMA altogether.
McGregor’s win was an impressive and violent one, as he dropped ‘The Underground King’ on numerous occasions before clearly finishing him off early in the second round. Incredibly, though, it wasn’t good enough for the Irishman’s great rival Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Bizarrely, in a 2017 interview prior to his planned bout with Tony Ferguson, ‘The Eagle’ stated that he saw his fight with ‘El Cucuy’ as the real title bout, as he “didn’t understand” McGregor vs. Alvarez at all.
The Dagestani went onto say that McGregor had “caught (Alvarez) a few times and he falls down – to me this is a fake fight."
Of course, there’s never been any other suggestion that Alvarez took a dive or that his clash with McGregor was fixed – despite Khabib later saying that “a lot of people have questions about the fight”.
If anything, the Dagestani’s accusations can just be seen as another example of his sheer disdain for ‘The Notorious’.
