Former UFC champion Daniel Cormier was surprised when Diego Sanchez was released by the UFC. In fact, he thinks that Diego’s coach Joshua Fabia is almost entirely to blame for this turn of events.
Like most of us, Cormier was shocked here that Sanchez has been cut by the UFC. After all, this is the same man who won the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, and was largely beloved among the fan base.
Nevertheless this was soon confirmed to be the case after rumors emerged, following his withdrawal from his bout against Donald Cerrone. He was no longer a UFC fighter, after being paid his show, win, and apparel money from that canceled bout.
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Daniel Cormier Goes Off On Joshua Fabia
As surprising as Diego Sanchez’s release by the UFC may have been, subsequent reporting revealed just how much of this was the product of his coach, the eccentric Joshua Fabia. This is something that UFC commentator and former champion Daniel Cormier is not surprised by.
Speaking in a recent episode of the DC and Helwani show, he expressed extreme displeasure with the way Fabia has treated Sanchez. He even goes as far as suggest that Joshua has used charisma to influence Diego and take advantage of him.
“(Fabia) starts to become so important, he wants to be a massive part of what’s going on, he imparts himself in ways that he should not be involved,” Cormier said.
“You can tell what the guys doing. You can tell what he’s doing, it’s almost like they were trying to build like a lawsuit or something against the UFC with the line of questioning that they were going down…
“Diego was always very… you can guide him. And when the wrong person gets ahold of a person that has that kind of follower’s mentality, or that’s not a strong-willed here, then they can really take you down the path, And I feel like that’s exactly what’s happening with Diego right now, ” Cormier continued.
“This guy’s a bad guy man. I’m telling you, The guy is not caring about Diego and Diego’s best interests. It’s just so apparent, and I don’t even understand what he’s doing.”
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Not Diego Sanchez
Some of the rumors that have come out about Joshua Fabian and his relationship with Diego Sanchez suggest he has an extreme amount of control that the coach has over the fighter, including having complete control over his social media. This is something that Daniel Cormier seemingly backs up.
Continuing on the topic, DC explains that he has had a few interactions with Diego’s profile on social media, but he does not believe that the messages that he received actually came from Sanchez. Instead he thinks that these messages came from Fabia himself, using Diego’s profile.
“I was arguing with… I don’t believe it was Diego, it was Josh, on Instagram Messenger about the way that the fight (with Michel Pereira) went down,” Cormier said.
“I get this thing from Diego a while back, I say ‘Hey, you realize you’re one of my favorite people in the UFC. I call the fights as I see them, I don’t know that you’re doing a breathing technique. I saw you blowing bubbles, I call the fight as I see it, I thought you made the right decision by not continuing. C’mon Diego.’ the message I received back was ‘Watch the fight in slow motion and get back to me. You never asked my corner anything.’
“I was like ‘I didn’t speak to your corner in the meeting because I didn’t have anything to ask him. We talked to the fighters.’ But this is not Diego I was talking to. And I mean this went on for message after message.”
At the end of the day, Daniel Cormier feels like the UFC made the right call by parting ways with Diego Sanchez. He just wants to see the beloved veteran taken care of.
