ESPN has leaned into the gambling aspect of broadcasting live sporting events in recent years. And while this is largely a positive for viewers watching at home, the legitimacy of the network’s pick-touting, which has already been called into question recently, was again questioned during Saturday’s broadcast of UFC Vegas 107.
Ahead of the main card, Minty Bets, a personality frequently on UFC on ESPN broadcasts as a betting analyst, offered her touted bet for the first fight of the main card, Dusko Todorovic versus Zach Reese.
Unfortunately, she had some difficulties getting her point across. Leading with the narrative that she thought the fight would be ending early, she attempted to pitch viewers on betting on the fight to end in Round 2.
That came after she stumbled over her words for nearly 15 seconds, where she appeared to forget which bet she was touting.
“You wonder why this total is heavily juiced to the under at 1.5 rounds,” said Minty Bets. “But, I’ve got to find something similar for a better price. Excuse me, I have got to find something similar for a better price. Oof, I am sorry… I have got to find something similar for a better price, and I am betting on… Oh my goodness, sorry. Yeah, I am betting on a second-round finish because everyone is loving a first-round finish here. I am betting a round two finish at +250. Brendon (Fitzgerald), back to you.”
Not only did Minty Bets not declare what bet she was touting until the graphic of the actual bet appeared on the broadcast, which she could likely also see on her end. But in the end, she really offered no actual explanation for the bet aside from the fact that she believes everyone else expected a first-round finish in the fight.
The best-case scenario here is that she genuinely lost her focus and forgot the bet that she was planning on endorsing. But given what we know about ESPN, this is likely not the case.
Monday Night Football analyst Jason Kelce has said publicly that he has been told by someone at the network to endorse bets that he really had no conviction about otherwise, which naturally raised doubts that any touted bet on the network has any validity at all.
This instance is perhaps an even worse look for ESPN, considering the whole reason that Minty Bets is even featured on this broadcast is to give valuable insight to interested bettors watching at home. At least for Jason Kelce, the main factor he brings to the network is his years of experience in the NFL.
Even if you give Minty Bets the benefit of the doubt in this situation by saying that it was a bet she believed in, it was still an extremely disastrous moment for her. And naturally, fight fans had plenty of criticisms for her regarding the matter on social media.
Well Minty bets could not have made it more obvious she doesn’t bet her plays right there 🤣🤣
Girl was absolutely lost without a teleprompter
You’d think she’d know what she bets 💀
— 🌳𝗕𝗪𝗕🌳 (@BettingWithBush) June 1, 2025