UFC’s Jeff Molina was one of the biggest defenders of James Krause which is why many people suspected his suspension might have something to do with the longtime coach.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) suspended UFC\s Jeff Molina, according to Molina’s page on mixedmartialarts.com.
ESPN was the first to report on the suspension. As per source:
“The reason for the suspension is not listed. A source with access to the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC) internal database told ESPN that Molina’s suspension is marked as “uncategorized,” pending the NSAC’s next meeting. That meeting is scheduled for January.”
Molina is 25 years old and has been with the UFC since a successful stint on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020. He is 3-0 in UFC and has an MMA record consisting of 11 wins and 2 losses.
Molina was supposed to face Jimmy Flick on January 14th card in Las Vegas but withdrew from the contest.
He withdrew a day after UFC announced that they won’t be featuring any athletes training under James Krause. This was in fall out from the fight-fixing investigation that is still ongoing.
But according to Molina, this might not be Krause’s fault. In a tweet that has since been deleted Molina addressed a call out from another UFC guy and went on to reveal that his suspension is related to the fact he ignored UFC’s memo about banning betting and kept on doing it.
Molina was quick to delete his tweet, but a helpful reddit user preserved it on R/MMA.
Molina was deep into the betting world and had been ‘mentored’ by Krause as far back as mid 2021. In a podcast appearance made months before the scandal he went on to reveal:
“I was telling you this off camera, but it was I’ve gotten really heavy into betting probably since late July, like before it was $20 plays, you know, at most $50 plays. And my heart was racing at that point. And then late July is when I start treating it like a job. My coach James Krauss is, is really good at this man.”
Molina went on to say Krause was his mentor:
“he’s a mentor to me and he kind of taught me the, kind of showed me the ropes. ”
Molina detailed he was obsessively watching tape adding:
“And I hate to ramble, but it’s just I treat this like a job. And it’s worked really well for me the last couple of months.”
Molina explains he got into it after quitting his fulltime job to do MMA. He was paranoid about the chances of a catastrophic knee injury that could leave him unable to provide for himself:
“I was like, Man, no passive income coming in. I could blow my knee tomorrow and yet and not fight for a year.”
“So I had to talk with James and he told me about what he does. And man, we’ve been killing it.”