Sports betting site BetOnline is seeing what it calls “irregular action” for one of the bouts slated for Saturday’s UFC Perth card.
Representatives for BetOnline, one of the world’s leading sports betting websites, revealed it has seen what it deems “irregular action” for tomorrow’s Steve Erceg vs. Tim Elliott flyweight bout. According to BOL, the liability for this bout is three times the liability of the next closest bout on the card for the sportsbook.
There is no proof that anything nefarious has taken place, but the line shift for this bout is so drastic that BOL sportsbook reps are publicly pointing it out on social media.
Erceg opened -400 down to -175 and dropping…
Fishy?
#UFCPerth“Big line move in Erceg vs Elliott, very weird. Erceg opened -400 down to -175 and dropping… Fishy?” questioned BOL’s sportsbook manager, Adam Burns, on X.
Erceg opened as a -285 favorite on April 22, with Elliott opening as a +245 underdog. At one point, Erceg reached -600, but money has been pouring in on Elliott all week. Currently, the odds see Erceg as a -175 favorite and Elliott as a +145 underdog, an odds shift so drastic that the sportsbook is calling it rare to see.
According to BetOnline, more than 91% of the sharp bets on this fight have come in on the underdog, Elliott, to pull through.
UFC Has Pulled Fights For Irregular Betting Activity
In January, a lightweight bout between Alexander Hernandez and Michael Johnson was set to take place at UFC 324. However, the fight was scrapped due to irregular betting patterns. The UFC never re-booked the fight, with Johnson getting matched up against Drew Dober, while Hernandez ended up fighting Rafa Garcia. Both men ended up losing their new fights.
Last November, the UFC went through a messy situation with featherweight Isaac Dulgarian. The UFC was alerted by sportsbooks of extremely odd betting behaviour for the fight, but let it play out, anyway. Dulgarian, who was a big favorite to win heading into the fight, saw his odds drop massively on fight day, with tons of money pouring in on underdog Yadier del Valle. Dulgarian then lost by first-round submission, and it didn’t appear he tried very hard to fight the choke that del Valle finished him with.
UFC president Dana White later revealed that the FBI is investigating the bout, though no resolution has come from that yet. Dulgarian has basically disappeared from social media since that fight, while del Valle ended up losing his next bout very easily to Jordan Leavitt, drawing further scrutiny to what happened with Dulgarian.
UFC Perth Going Ahead With 13 Fights – For Now
Saturday’s UFC Perth fight is going ahead with 13 fights for now, though the UFC could jump in and potentially put a halt to this fight if they feel something weird is going on. Again, there is no proof that Erceg or Elliott has done anything wrong. But after the Dulgarian situation, the UFC prefers to err on the side of caution in these situations, and we saw that when Hernandez vs. Johnson was canceled due to a drastic odds shift, even though there was no hard proof that anything nefarious was going on.
UFC Perth is headlined by former UFC welterweight champion Jack Della Maddelana vs. Carlos Prates, with a co-main event featuring lightweights Quillan Salkilld vs. Beneil Dariush.
Sports Betting Site Seeing ‘Irregular Action’ on UFC Perth Bout