Ali Akbar Rosady
Garcia’s performance on the night of UFC Vegas 110 was nothing short of emphatic. Stepping into his first main event, he delivered a dominant showcase against David Onama, culminating in a first-round knockout. From the opening bell, Garcia demonstrated relentless aggression, pursuing Onama across the octagon and ultimately securing the stoppage after landing a blistering combination of shots. The victory marked Garcia’s seventh consecutive win, with an impressive six of those bouts ending via KO/TKO, solidifying his reputation as a formidable finisher.
Speaking to MMA Fighting after his win, Garcia expressed a degree of surprise regarding Onama’s approach. "I will say I was a little surprised on how he approached things," Garcia stated, referencing pre-fight reports that suggested Onama would welcome a direct confrontation. "Because I think what some of the [interviewers] were relaying to me is that they’re saying he was welcoming a scrap right in the middle of the octagon and it didn’t happen." Garcia attributed this deviation to strategic coaching, speculating, "I think it sounds nice to meet in the middle and just scrap but then you have a smart coach like Marc Montoya and they’re really going to just go out and [say] he look, we’ve got five rounds for this, let’s just slow things down a little bit, we’ll have our moments and we’ll try to do this. That’s how I would assume they would approach that."
However, Onama never advanced beyond the initial round, a testament to Garcia’s aggressive strategy and self-belief. "I was just going to be on him the whole entire time because when you feel that energy in there, I just know that I felt superior in there," Garcia explained. "Even in the back, my hands felt strong, they felt heavy. I felt like I could touch anybody and they were going to fall. It’s a great feeling to have right before a fight, I’ll tell you that much. So we were able to go out there and dominate."
Yet, the positive attention surrounding Garcia’s decisive victory quickly dissipated. Just two fights prior on the same card, featherweight Isaac Dulgarian suffered a swift first-round submission loss to Yadier del Valle via rear-naked choke. While a quick finish is not uncommon in the UFC, the circumstances surrounding Dulgarian’s defeat immediately drew intense scrutiny due to highly unusual betting activity. Reports indicated that the betting odds on Dulgarian, initially a heavy favorite, saw a significant drop, and prop bets specifically related to a first-round finish were conspicuously removed from several prominent sportsbooks shortly before the event.
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The irregularities prompted swift action. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) initiated an investigation into potential fight-fixing allegations, and the UFC subsequently released Dulgarian from his contract. UFC CEO Dana White later confirmed that the organization had been alerted to the betting patterns. White revealed that the UFC had communicated with Dulgarian and his attorney, with the fighter maintaining that nothing untoward was occurring and expressing readiness to compete. Following Dulgarian’s rapid submission, White confirmed that the UFC directly reported the incident to the FBI, underscoring the severity with which the promotion views such matters.
The ramifications of the Dulgarian controversy extended beyond the immediate parties involved, reaching figures like Steve Garcia, whose opponent, David Onama, trained at the same Colorado-based gym, Factory X, and under the same coaching staff as Dulgarian. Garcia articulated his frustration at the guilt-by-association phenomenon, noting, "It doesn’t really make it look good. I’m assuming this maybe happened a lot back in the day with boxing. It didn’t sit well with a lot of people. I know it doesn’t sit well with Dana [White]. I know it doesn’t sit well with people that are actually trying to win. It’s rough and it kind of sucks. I feel bad for the team."
Garcia highlighted how the scandal inadvertently cast doubt on his own performance. "I even got a little bit of it [with people saying] ‘well Onama was supposed to win’ or ‘he didn’t really seem like he looked like he was trying to win’ or something like that. Just because you’re training at the same gym, you’re guilty by association." He was quick to defend the legitimacy of his bout with Onama, pointing to the close betting lines – Garcia as a -135 favorite and Onama as a +130 or +140 underdog – and physical evidence of the fight’s intensity. "I’ve got a black eye to prove it. He tried to freaking get me," Garcia asserted, dispelling any notion of a predetermined outcome in his fight.
Marc Montoya, the highly respected head coach at Factory X, publicly denied any knowledge of possible fight-fixing and confirmed that his team had severed ties with Dulgarian following the emergence of the allegations. Montoya is widely regarded within the MMA community as a coach of sterling reputation, working with numerous successful fighters in the UFC. Garcia, who has competed against several of Montoya’s athletes, vouched for the coach’s integrity. "In my head, you can’t hate on the gym. You can’t hate on everybody else. Marc Montoya, all this stuff like that, I hear they kind of disassociated with Dulgarian and it doesn’t look good. Nothing’s proven with anybody yet. I hope they figure it out. It doesn’t look good for him. I just don’t know what good can come from it."
Garcia expressed empathy for Montoya, acknowledging the difficult position the coach and his gym found themselves in due to the actions of one individual. "That’s why I felt for Marc Montoya. I have a lot of respect for him, I really do. He’s always been really kind. I fought a couple of his guys before. No matter what, he’s always a straight up guy, at least to me. When he disassociated with Dulgarian, I don’t know if there’s a timeline on it. Like once all this comes to an end, maybe we can talk it out. I don’t know what happened but that’s what sucks. You become associated [with] that. This ain’t the mob. It’s hard to speculate when you don’t really know anything. You don’t know what to think. You don’t know what to believe. Most of that team, they’re gunning to win. They all win. They do really well. That’s why it’s weird coming from that gym."
This is not the first instance of fight-fixing allegations to plague the UFC. In 2022, the promotion faced a similar crisis involving Darrick Minner, whose loss was preceded by a dramatic swing in betting odds. That investigation led to severe repercussions: Minner was released from his contract, and his coach, James Krause, was effectively banned from the UFC, with officials declaring that any fighter associated with him would be barred from competing in the octagon. Flyweight Jeff Molina, a teammate of Minner and a student of Krause, was also released and subsequently suspended for three years by the Nevada Athletic Commission for placing "significant" bets on the fight in question.
While the current investigation largely focuses on Dulgarian, the broader sentiment articulated by Garcia is that anyone in close proximity to the now-former UFC featherweight fighter inevitably gets entangled in the controversy. "It’s not fair to everybody else. It’s really not," Garcia lamented. He acknowledged the complexity of the situation for individuals possibly pressured into such acts but firmly condemned the practice. "I’m not going to excuse that. If you did that, you better have some pretty damn good excuse. You almost need to be like ‘he was going to kill me’ type situation because if not, yeah you should probably go to jail."
The ongoing FBI investigation into the Dulgarian case underscores the UFC’s zero-tolerance policy towards activities that undermine the integrity of its competitions. While the full extent of the allegations and their resolution remain to be seen, the incident has already cast an unwelcome shadow over the achievements of legitimate fighters like Steve Garcia, highlighting the far-reaching and detrimental effects of such scandals on the sport’s credibility and the careers of those involved, directly or indirectly.
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