Marc Montoya UFC

A betting scandal surrounding fighter Isaac Dulgarian has rocked the MMA world, but Factory X owner and head coach Marc Montoya is adamant he was not involved.

This past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 263, Dulgarian (7-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) suffered the first stoppage loss of his career by submission in the opening round to Yadier del Valle. The result came after suspicious betting activity raised flags at sportsbooks, as large amounts of money came in late against Dulgarian.

On Monday, the UFC announced Dulgarian was cut from the promotion.

Tuesday, Montoya, who was in Dulgarian's corner for the fight at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, spoke about the situation on "The Ariel Helwani Show," to clear his name and his gym's name of any wrongdoing.

"My gym is being attacked, my integrity is being attacked, and I just want to first and foremost say, we have nothing to do with any of these allegations that are being brought upon us," Montoya said. "People have asked me what my opinions are. To speculate right now is not my job. My job is to right now continue to lead and not react. With that said, we as a team, myself as a person, I've never been involved in any type of betting format. I've actually never even placed a sports bet in my entire life. I couldn't tell you how to do it.

"My job has always been to train these guys to fight and win. Train these guys to win in life and those are my two jobs. I take that very seriously. This is my life's work, and you can bet your ass that I would never, for any sort of money, I would never sell my integrity or my word, because in life, that's all you have. You have one thing. All these worldly things that we look at – the cars, the houses, the money, all those things, those are worldly, man-made things. We go, and we leave ourself with one thing when we leave this earth, and that's our integrity and our word. You couldn't pay me any amount of money to get rid of that."

Montoya said he began coaching Dulgarian when he entered the UFC in 2023. Prior to Saturday's result, Montoya led the 29-year-old to a 2-1 record in the UFC with stoppage wins of Francis Marshall and Brendon Marotte, plus the first loss of his career, which was a split decision against Christian Rodriguez.

According to Montoya, training camp was business as usual for Dulgarian, and there were no suspicious signs leading up to the fight against del Valle.

"We trained our butt off for this fight," Montoya said. "He trained with world-class athletes leading up to this fight. He was physically and mentally ready to go into this fight and secure victory. He's an amazing athlete. He's a guy worth investing time into in the fight world. I don't go into any fight as a coach that I don't think we're going to go win. At the end of the day, that is our job. He's exceptional in that sense. That is his pedigree."

Word of the suspicious betting activity quickly spread online and reached the team as they were warming up to fight. Montoya said he questioned Dulgarian about the situation, and his fighter assured him that he was not involved in what was going on at the betting windows.

"My perspective is that's a massive distraction from what our job is," Montoya said. "Our job is that we prepared weeks upon weeks to go win a fight. First and foremost, as a coach and as a person, I care about my fighter, so there's a conversation that needs to be had. We had the conversation about allegations, he reassured me he wasn't invovled, and I have no reason not to believe him."

The fight unfolded in an uncharacteristic fashion for Dulgarian. As a fighter who has stopped all of his opponents in victories and had never been finished before, the result stood out as questionable. The result also matched the suspicious prop betting activity, as wagers flowed in on Dulgarian to lose the fight in the opening round. Sportsbooks such as William Hill and Caesars canceled losing bets on the fight.

Dulgarian was not only cut from the UFC, but Montoya made the decision to sever ties and kick him off the Factory X team as an FBI investigation ramps up. Montoya hopes for Dulgarian and his family's sake that he is truly innocent of fight-fixing allegations, but suspects his career may be done regardless of the outcome.

"The conversation was that he was cut from the UFC, and unfortunately, there's an investigation that is being had, and, ultimately, that he's not part of this Factory X team because of everything going on," Montoya said. "... Whether he's guilty or he's innocent, in my prediciton, Isaac Dulgarian is not gonna fight again. So, does it matter where he claims where he's training? Ultimately, where we sit today is in just a crazy mess, with all these allegations, and so, the least of his concerns right now would be where he's at and where he's training."

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Factory X's Marc Montoya denies involvement in Isaac Dulgarian UFC betting scandal

Reporting by Matthew Wells, MMA Junkie / MMA Junkie

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