Former UFC fighter Tae Hyun Bang was recently sentenced to 10 months in prison for his role in a fight fixing scam in line with UFC Fight Night Seoul in 2015.
UFC President Dana White says that hopefully every fighter out there has learned a lesson from what Bang has done.
“We caught wind of that thing,” White said at a media luncheon. “You know, there was talk about it. So, Joe and Sean called him and he said, ‘No, no, I would never blah blah blah.’ And he didn’t do it, but he still went to jail. As you can see with USADA and the drug-testing and everything else, guys don’t f*cking learn lessons, but hopefully you learn that one. You get caught doing that shit — and he didn’t even do it. He took the money, but didn’t fix the fight. And he got 10 months in jail. You get suspended for a year for drugs, you get suspended for two years. You go to f*cking jail for doing this shit. Hopefully that’s a lesson learned for everybody.”
Bang is currently residing in a South Korea prison and his future as a professional MMA fighter is up in the air at the moment.
As far as further fight fixing opportunities in the UFC goes, the UFC President says there is nothing to worry about.
“This thing is a major sport now that you can actually bet on,” he said. “And those guys know that shit. Those guys know, when that line is moving around, people know what’s going on. It’s very hard to do. Plus, if you look at the limits that you’re allowed to bet, what you’re allowed to bet isn’t worth going to jail for 10 months. Or if you’re the bad guy trying to get the kid to throw the fight, there just isn’t that much money in it.”
Leo Kuntz was Bang’s opponent in that scandalous fight and he is no longer with the UFC either, but now competes for the Road FC promotion.
