Having thought about this for years, have some observations:

Fighters who've constantly been taken advantage of by shady promoters and bosses for years can believe in a bigger organized shadiness in the world. So they see a problem but use wrong explanation. /1 https://twitter.com/alexscaffidi_/status/1289566554338648065

Instead of pro worker/athlete analysis which is boring and needs education, they use conspiracies that take 2 minutes to explain

Secondly, adventurous people need obstacles to overcome. That's the adventure. So if there are none, they'll invent them. /2

Third, if you've fought all over the world, and have fought on fight islands (remember also Bodog?) and have seen things many of us can't imagine, literally everything sounds plausible /3

Fourth, combat sports and martial arts attracts a lot of white libertarians and covert alt-right. Many in teaching positions. When you see them all shooting guns with militia in desert, that should be red flag. But that's literally in every UFC countdown video /4

Fifth, possible brain damage acts as an accelerant.

Sixth, the MMA media sphere starting with Joe Rogan and Eddie Bravo create an environment for conspiracy.

Seventh, everyone else have been too charitable to this environment for too long, which is how we got to now /end