‘He Was Masterminding Everything’- Diego Sanchez Reveals Joshua Fabia Was Using Him to Secure a Settlement From the UFC

Aug 16, 2021 | 11:44 AM EDT

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Long time UFC veteran and The Ultimate Fighter winner Diego Sanchez is no longer with the UFC. ‘The Nightmare’ was released from the UFC earlier this year. After his trainer, cum manager Joshua Fabia had a falling out with the promotion. This resulted in Sanchez being released by the UFC.

Now that Sanchez is no longer associated with Fabia, he has decided to speak out against his former associate. ‘The Nightmare’ divulged the history of their relationship and why it soured towards the end. He said, “Man, I put everything into that training camp.”

“I was ready to go and I passed all my medicals, I passed everything….. And the reason why it ended the way it did with UFC, that has other implications, that’s other stuff. That’s Joshua Fabia and f**king with the medicals and just pushing all the wrong buttons at the UFC, working his ass off to get whatever was best for his intentions, not what was best for Diego Sanchez”

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‘The Nightmare’ continued, “I believe my mentor was guiding me in what was best for him. And what was best for him was to try to figure out a way to get a settlement with the UFC. He knew that if there was a major settlement with the UFC, that I was going to hook him up with half, because it was all his idea, it was all his plan.”

“He was masterminding everything. And I made the mistake of following a mentor that I thought had a stronger connection to God than me.”

Diego Sanchez deprived of a farewell fight in the UFC

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The issue with Fabia, Sanchez, and the UFC came to light when ‘The Nightmare’ was suddenly pulled out of his fight against Cerrone. The promotion announced that the fight would not be taking place. As time went by, it was revealed that the fight was called off as Fabia had a falling out with the UFC brass.

Fabia also record calls he had with the likes of Hunter Campbell and Sean Shelby and released those calls. Sanchez vs Cerrone was set to be a retirement fight for ‘The Nightmare’. In the aftermath of what happened with Fabia and the UFC, Sanchez cut all ties with his former manager and coach.

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‘The Nightmare’ is now set to embark on a new challenge in the form of Bare Knuckle Boxing. However, this has not been confirmed at this point in time.

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