EXCLUSIVE | Stephen Thompson Slams Joshua Fabia: ‘You Need To Get Slapped’
Stephen Thompson is highly-regarded as one of the most down-to-earth personalities in all of Mixed Martial Arts; but when it comes to Joshua Fabia’s treatment of Diego Sanchez, he’s like a lot of us in our dismay and confusion.
In an exclusive interview with LowKickMMA’s James Lynch, Thompson went off on Fabia for sabotaging Sanchez’s career after he was let go from the UFC just weeks ago.
“I don’t know what’s going on in this guy’s head, I really don’t,” Thompson said. “As a coach, if he was my fighter, I would’ve told him to hang it up a long time ago. He’s taken a lot of damage. As a coach, if you’re out there trying to take over and doing that, you need to get slapped. This guy’s putting Diego through stuff I’ve never seen before. Somebody needs to go poke that guy in the eye.”
Fabia has been the target of many around the MMA community for seeming to manipulate and control Sanchez’s life and career. Sanchez was released by the UFC leading up to an originally scheduled fight with Donald Cerrone at UFC Vegas 26. UFC president Dana White harshly criticized Fabia following Sanchez’s release, and called the coach “nuts” and “creepy”.
Fabia has created a lot of drama between the UFC, Sanchez and himself over the past couple years. He was involved in a heated confrontation with the UFC broadcasting crew during one of Sanchez’s fighter meetings, has accused White of sleeping with UFC fighters, and is under fire after a training session with Sanchez suspended upside down with Fabia hitting him went viral.
Thompson is set to compete against former UFC welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns at UFC 264 in July. As for Sanchez, he remains a free agent and is currently unsigned by MMA promotions around the world. Bellator president Scott Coker went as far as iterating that his promotion has zero interest in bringing in the former The Ultimate Fighter winner to their roster.
Sanchez has always been one of the biggest fan favorites over his tenured career in combat sports. But the drama surrounding his coach doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, especially if Sanchez decides to continue as a fighter with another promotion.
What do you think about Stephen Thompson’s criticism of Diego Sanchez’s coach and manager, Joshua Fabia?
