Matt Brown discusses the recent betting scandal surrounding James Krause and the UFC: “I’ve never seen anything like this”

Matt Brown is discussing the recent betting scandal surrounding James Krause and the UFC.

James Krause, retired fighter and veteran coach at Glory MMA and Fitness Gym in Missouri is currently under suspension by the Nevada Athletic Commission as an ongoing investigation into betting irregularities is underway.

The accusations stem from a fight at UFC Vegas 64, where Darrick Minner (26-14 MMA) lost to Shayilan Nuerdanbieke  (39-10 MMA) via first round TKO. Apparently Minner had an injury ahead of the match-up, which he did not disclose, and betting lines shifted dramatically against him in the hours leading up to the bout raising suspicion. Minner has been subsequently released from his UFC contract.

The UFC released a statement concerning the matter:

“The UFC Athlete Conduct Policy expressly prohibits UFC athletes from placing any wagers (directly or through a third party) on any UFC match, including placing wagers on themselves. The same rules apply to coaches, managers, trainers and anyone else directly affiliated with the athletes or the UFC.”

Matt Brown who worked with Krause during his appearance on The Ultimate Fighter season 25, and has maintained a friendship over the years, has concerns over the allegations.

Speaking on ‘The Fighter vs. The Writer’ about the controversy, Brown said (h/t MMAFighting):

“I always thought he was a good dude (Krause). Very, very smart with coaching, very smart with business stuff. I actually picked up some tips from him for business stuff. He’s a very intelligent guy.”

Continuing Matt Brown compared the former fighter to Pete Rose:

“Sounds like he went to the well one too many times on this one though, right? He reached a little too far, overstepped his boundaries and now he’s looking like Pete Rose out here. Long story short, James Krause is f**ked. Everything he’s worked for is going down the drain from this. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Brown commented on sports betting:

“We did a UFC summit back in I would say 2010, 2011, they used to have these summits every year and they’d bring all the fighters out and put us in a room and give us speeches from all these people. They had a FBI guy come in once and he was talking about sports betting and how we shouldn’t be doing it and how we’d get in trouble if it happens.”

“Then funny enough, that just kind of fell off and then all of a sudden everyone’s promoting betting, all these betting sites are out there, everyone’s talking about it. I hear about all these coaches betting on everything. I always kept that in the back of my mind like somebody’s going to get f***ed here. Too bad it was James Krause, I really like that guy.”

Brown knows this is not an anomaly:

“I can tell you factually there are coaches constantly betting on fights. Guys that have inside info.”

“This happens in all the different sports. Why are they just singling out UFC? Obviously, we know what just happened.”

Concluding, Brown suggested it’s not looking good for Krause:

“He’s just accused right now. We don’t know all the facts. We have to give him the benefit of the doubt. Innocent until proven guilty, right? But it certainly does not look very good for him. It does not look good for James Krause. I’ll just give my own shout out to him and wish him luck because I really like the guy.”

“He just went to the well one too many times. That’s kind of what I’m looking at. He probably did not break the law in most of these instances, and probably wasn’t doing anything to implicate himself, but then he went to the well one too many times and went pretty deep from what it sounds like. That line moved a lot. He went deep into the well and now he’s got to pay the price for it unfortunately.”

Do you agree with Matt Brown that James Krause is in a lot of trouble? What are your thoughts on athletes and associates betting on fights?

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