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John Gibson, a competitive grappler and personal trainer interviewed Diego Sanchez and his coach/manager Joshua Fabia on his Youtube channel. The interview is approximately ninety minutes long and mostly consists of Joshua & Diego talking about various grievances they have with the MMA media and UFC.
Cliffs are below, this is a brief summation of the interview and has only been edited down for brevity. I do not endorse anything that was said in this interview and am simply transcribing what was said; my own views after listening are briefly noted at the bottom.
Cliffs:
- Diego states he is doing good and was looking forward to ending his career with the UFC on a high note. He understands that is not happening and is alright with that.
- The UFC paid Diego in full for his final fight.
- Diego and Joshua believe the MMA media has created, perpetuated, and continued to foster a false narrative surrounding their relationship and the type of person Joshua Fabia is.
- They state emphatically that neither of them is gay, there has never been a romantic component to their relationship, and what they have is a 'brotherhood' as Diego describes it.
- Both men blame Ariel Helwani (ESPN) for popularizing the narrative that they have a romantic relationship. They state Helwani posted on twitter a picture of Diego and Joshua that had been posted to Diegos Facebook and the photo more or less gives viewers of it the wrong impression.
- They blame the MMA media as a whole for supposedly perpetuating the narrative that their relationship is romantic or there is some type ambiguity to it.
- Joshua Fabia states that the media has been baiting Donald Cerrone during his media availability this week to say something about their relationship and that he took the bait and made several comments that they perceive as homophobic.
- They also lay some of the blame for the 'negative media attention' surrounding their relationship at the feet of the UFC for allowing comments like Cowboys.
- Joshua Fabia punctuates this blame of the UFC by stating Dana White and Sean Shelby have had sex with female fighters; the implication being this is part of a pattern of inappropriate behavior.
- Joshua Fabia elaborates on the role he has played in Diegos life. He states he has been serving as Diegos coach, manager, and advocate for various life challenges.
- Joshua Fabia and Diego both repeatedly mock the notion Fabia is conning Diego. Diego states Fabia has taught him how to be a normal person again and the reason he is able to speak coherently in the interview is because Fabia has worked with him on being able to express himself as a normal person with words.
- Joshua Fabia and Diego mock the notion that Fabia is a bad coach and state that Diego has taken less damage with Fabia as his coach and that Fabia was his coach during his last real win (against Mickey Gall).
- Diego bemoans the recent opponents the UFC had been giving him, making reference to the large age gap between him and many of his recent opponents.
- Joshua Fabia and Diego mock the notion Fabia has been scamming him, they point to the fact he was paid all of his money without taking any damage for his most recent fight (against Cerrone). Fabia says he has gained Diego more notoriety than nearly any other fighter and has only prolonged his career and ability to earn money after fighting.
- Diego states the narrative surrounding Fabia has reached his own family members and he has had to cut people out of his life because they have heard and bought in to the narrative that Fabia is conning him.
- Fabia states that fighting is the only sport that you can have no amateur background in as a child/teenager and go straight into as an adult. He goes on to say fighting is not a sport and these are not professional athletes and are in essence individuals from vulnerable backgrounds being exploited by the UFC for money.
- Fabia believes the trouble started during his first meeting with Mick Maynard two years ago when he asked about getting a job for Diego and life after fighting. He bemoans the fact there is no support system or anything for fighters to fall back on after their careers are over.
- Both Diego and Fabia lambast the UFC for not being forthcoming with Diegos medical records for the entirety of his fighting career and repeatedly question why the UFC would keep them from him. They insinuate the doctors the UFC send their fighters to are just towing the company line.
- Diego and Fabia end the interview without saying what's next for either of them, but there is an unstated implication that some type of litigation due to the injuries Diego has sustained throughout his career could come.
My Own View:
Fabia is not a slick cult leader and there is no romantic relationship. Fabia comes across as a nerdy uncharismatic guy that pointed out to Diego some of the core problems surrounding the UFCs lack of retirement plan for its fighters who are with the promotion long term. Many of these problems which are self-evident to other fighters were not to Diego and when Joshua Fabia pointed them out Diego had an epiphany.
Fabias 'school' is only mentioned at the very end and does not sound as though it is a real thing. The 'control' many reference Fabia having over Diego appears to be Fabia signaling to Diego to talk about a certain point the two of them may have discussed prior. This is a way for Diego, who appears to lack self-confidence and view himself as 'damaged', to express his point of view clearly and concisely instead of in a scattered manner. Yes Fabia is telling Diego what to say, but that is because otherwise Diego would not be able to get his point across
I could be wrong, but Fabia seems like a harmless individual and Diego appears to be very bothered by those insinuating there is a romantic component to their relationship so the MMA media should stop acting as though there is some type of ambiguity.
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