Conor McGregor faced Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 (Image credit: Getty)
Even though there isn’t a logical connection between UFC and gambling or poker, these two are somewhat connected. Apart from the obvious thrill and risk that both of these have, poker and MMA are connected by their audience. In other words, both mixed martial arts and poker attract the same type of people – men between 25 to 40 who love the adrenaline rush and challenges.
Also, both poker and mixed martial arts require some well-planned strategy if you want to win. Making a single mistake means that you can get knocked out or you lose all your money. On the other hand, both poker and MMA can bring a considerable amount of money to the real professionals.
If you are wondering which UFC celebrities managed to make money by gambling or playing poker stay tuned. To discover more check out the list of Ultimate Fight Club athletes below.
So, let’s dig a little deeper into the subject and the connection between the two. When talking about online sportsbooks and casinos it is no secret that most of them have contracts with sports clubs and individuals. As a matter of fact, the only way for a brand to reach stardom in the world of gambling is to get sponsorships. For example, iGaming is sponsoring a great number of clubs in the Premier League.
And while most of the athletes, clubs and leagues are sponsored by sportsbooks, MMA is sponsored by casinos. Yes, retail and online casinos, and especially poker sites where you can get a guide to online gambling for real money. The same goes for UFC or the American Ultimate Fighting Championship which is sponsored by PokerStars popular for extraordinary online poker. Moreover, this operator also started collaborating with MMA fighters and making them PokerStars ambassadors. Some of the famous names you can see on PokerStars ads and banners are Bruce Buffer, Daniel Cormier, and Johnny Walker.
Many poker enthusiasts who love this brand will definitely see some of these names related to promos, bonuses, offers and events. Now let’s see who are the most famous mixed martial arts fighters who love to play casino games:
Dana Frederick White Jr. is also known as the current President of the UFC, but he is also known for being a great blackjack enthusiast. Naturally, with such passion come big stakes – and in Dana’s case, literally huge stakes. He loves to play high stakes and just like any successful businessmen and a celebrity he can surely afford it. To be precise, $25000 a hand spent on a regular basis is completely normal in his case.
And that is not all. Dana White was actually “notorious” for being an incredible blackjack player. The rules to this game are not that simple and you need to be a good strategist in order to win. In case you want to know the blackjack rules you can find all the necessary info online and also read about NV online gambling sites. The casino where he used to play this card game, Palm Casino started making customized rules for Dana. They first started cutting the wager limits and eventually got to the point where they needed to ban White from playing the game. And it is not a wonder, since he managed to win $2million and then $5 million from playing blackjack.
This fighter became famous after his staged fight with Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier in Marbella. Moreover, Veldhuis is a member of the Pokerstars Pro Team Online. Also, he streams poker tournaments on the same site. Apart from being a celebrity in mixed martial arts, he is also kind of a celebrity in the poker world. In 2020, Lex Veldhuis won $62,620 and he also finished as number 15th on the PokerStars SCOOP Main Event scoreboard.
Just like the previously mentioned Lex Veldhuis, Bertrand Grospellier is popular as a poker player and an MMA fighter. He is also a member of Pokerstars Pro Team Online and has won many tournaments such as the World Poker Tour, European Poker Tour title, etc. He is also known as an esports player as well as an MMA fighter who staged a fight with Lex Veldhuis – which was one of the greatest fighting events of this kind in the world of poker.
Terrence Chan was an employee at a casino and managed to win $1 million by playing poker. Apart from winning 2 SCOOP bracelets at the same time, this Ultimate Fighting Championship and PokerStar have had the chance to try other martial arts such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai. However, he never participated in any of the competitions. He started his MMA career in Vancouver and won his first match with a TKO.