During the co main event this past Saturday, Feb. 15, Diego Sanchez won the fight by disqualification, but that wasn’t the strangest thing that had taken place during the fight.
After being down two rounds to none and being on his way to losing the third and final round, his opponent Michel Perreira hit him with an illegal knee to the head which resulted in the fight immediately being stopped.
As reported on Saturday, Sanchez was consulted by the UFC doctor and referee about whether or not he wanted to continue. After the doctor cleared Sanchez, referee Jason Herzog asked Sanchez if he wanted to continue, to which he ultimately replied no.
While the contest was taking place, there was a lot of questions asked by the color commentary team regarding Sanchez’s cornerman, Joshua Fabia, who took to instagram to address some of the comments that were made about him during the broadcast. Calling out UFC color commentator, Joe Rogan, who wasn’t even in the arena to call the fights that night.
“It’s really awesome you and @joerogan know how to talk shit without saying my name
But make sure it’s in metadata to be connected and found in search engines
You think you’re slick
I am aware of what you are doing and you will be exposed for your biases
Very classy gentlemen
Got (to) tell you I really feel the love”
Joshua Fabia in an Instagram post, post-fight
Sanchez also took to instagram to support Fabia and address the media himself.
When the media is bullying dont allow them to get away with it, call them out on there shit publicly! Go read the comments on the recent post about listen to the STRANGE corner advice I recieved! @mmajunkiedotcom where they are slandering @joshuafabiaknowbody and @schoolofselfawareness
Diego Sanchez in an Instagram post, post-fight
The color commentary team that Fabia’s referring to is coach Trevor Whittman, color commentator Brendan Fitzgerald, and former two-division champ, Daniel Cormier.
The commentary team took particular issue with the corner advice that Fabia was giving Sanchez.
Trevor Whittman who is the coach of former UFC women’s strawweight champion, Rose Namajunas and WSOF lightweight champion, Justin Gaethje, was the one who pointed out the situation first. Stating that the whole thing felt weird to him, and that it was strange to see from the UFC legend and Hall of Famer, Diego Sanchez.
“I just feel like what is going on tonight, and watching this, it’s crazy! It’s crazy. It’s unique. Again, it is hard to watch Diego in this moment right here. It’s different,” said Whittman.
Sanchez left super-camp, Jackson Wink’s MMA, last year due some personal issues with the management and head coaches.
Since then, Sanchez has been with Fabia, who doesn’t have any real fighting experience. This is two fights in a row where Sanchez has been essentially out classed by his competition, which isn’t what has come to be expected of him over his 15 year career, fighting for the UFC. It will be interesting to see how Sanchez rebounds from this recent rough patch in his fighting career.