Diego Sanchez defeated Michel Pereira in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 167. The fight took place at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
Sanchez won the fight via DQ in the third round. Sanchez was down in the first two rounds as the Brazilian dominated and beat him to the punch. Michel Pereira outworked him in the first two rounds and was on his way to win the third. However, in the third round, with less than two minutes left on the clock, he landed an illegal knee.
That illegal knee sliced opened a deep cut on Sanchez’s a forehead. Referee Jason Herzog immediately stepped in to pause the fight. He said he was willing to give Sanchez all the time he needed to recover.
However, the referee gave him options about if he wanted to continue fighting. Sanchez opted not to continue and won the fight via DQ. For this fight, Sanchez had Joshua Fabia in his corner. Joshua doesn’t have any real MMA experience.
Here’s what Fabia said to Sanchez during the First and second rounds.
“Five recovery breaths. Five recovery breaths.”
“Sip the water. Breathe in. Good.”
“Five recovery breaths! In the nose, out the mouth.”
“Listen carefully. Listen carefully. You are stopping your motion. Do not wait to see your work. I need forward, forward pressure. I need you to get off the line before you attack. Off the line before you attack.”
“Bee drill. Bee drill. Think of the shadow. Shadow!”
“I need you to get in. Get in, get behind. If it gets tight, if it gets sticky, take him to the ground.”
“Get on top. Give me some ride time. Give me some ground and pound.”
Fabia to Sanchez between round two and three:
“Listen to me. You need to go, alright? You need to go. I need to see you go swinging. You know why? Because you’ve got nothing to lose now.”
“He just won that round with that throw. You had the other round on points, on contact. Alright?”
“So you’ve got to get a takedown. You’ve got to hold him down. You’ve got to work this motherf—ker over. You hear me?”
“You’ve got to do your fucking job. Get to work. Alright?”
“Quit acting like you don’t know how to do it. Do not let him trigger you —” (audio cuts off as broadcast shows replays) (Transcripts via BloodyElbow.com)
After the fight, Sanchez responded to the fan criticism by sharing the fan’s perspective about the corner.
Interesting 🤔 pic.twitter.com/fRq6pxpJgl
— Chris Taylor (@CTaylor_96) February 17, 2020
“Nothing strange about this… this is mixed martial arts. We use keywords / phrases learned in camp with our coaches for fight combos during the practice and fight night. People love to clickbait and sell fake stories and images.” said the post shared by Diego Sanchez. “I don’t necessarily agree with his new coaching staff but as someone who has had the pleasure of being friends and training partners for 2.5 years with Diego, I 100% trust and respect his judgement.”
What do you guys think about Diego Sanchez’s corner?
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