UFC Hall of Famer Diego Sanchez is no longer working with Joshua Fabia as his manager, coach and guru, he told MMA Fighting on Thursday.
Sanchez declined to comment further on the situation, saying he would issue a statement next week and needed to gather his thoughts before speaking to the media.
Diego Sanchez ends his professional relationship with Joshua Fabia
Sanchez’s attorney, Charles Lakins, said the decision to leave Fabia was made Thursday. He added that Sanchez had removed his business ties to the coach.
“Any power of attorney for Fabia has been canceled/terminated,” Lakins said. Fabia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sanchez began working professionally with Fabia in 2019 before his fight with Mickey Gall at UFC 235. His relationship with the self-proclaimed healer and owner of the School of Self-Awareness has been the subject of much controversy in the MMA community as fans and fighters have expressed concern. over the degree of control the coach and manager has over his career.
Fabia has repeatedly clashed with UFC officials and employees at UFC events Sanchez has attended. In the lead-up to a UFC Vegas 26 fight with Donald Cerrone that he and Sanchez billed as a retirement fight, Fabia raised red flags with officials after requesting all of Sanchez’s medical records from his decade-plus UFC career.
In a call that Fabia secretly recorded with executives Sean Shelby and Hunter Campbell, Campbell expressed concern for Sanchez’s well-being and said he would require the fighter to certify that he had no short- or long-term medical issues.
When Sanchez refused via Lakins to certify that he was not suffering from any problems, including those related to his brain health, he was removed from the fight and released from his contract.
Fabia and Sanchez fought several times in the UFC following the fight’s cancellation. But Sanchez later reconnected with the promotion, he previously told MMA Fighting, and agreed to participate in the brain health study of professional athletes, funded in part by the promotion. He also said he would remain loyal to Fabia, as the coach and manager had done many good things for him during their relationship.
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