[autotag]Diego Sanchez[/autotag] has not minced words about the UFC in the aftermath of his unceremonious release, and he’s genuinely concerned that he might pay for it.
Sanchez (30-13 MMA, 19-13 UFC), who was supposed to co-headline Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 24 event against Donald Cerrone, was pulled from his fight and released by the UFC after he and manager Joshua Fabia asked the UFC for his medical records.
Fabia requested Sanchez’s medical records throughout his 16-year tenure with the promotion, which alarmed the UFC about Sanchez’s health. Although Sanchez passed all the medicals leading up to the fight, the UFC was not ready to put him in there if he couldn’t confirm that he wasn’t suffering long-term medical issues. Sanchez and his team provided insufficient evidence in their response, and Sanchez was subsequently pulled from the fight before he was cut.
It’s been more than a week of drama for the original winner of “The Ultimate Fighter,” who gave a lengthy interview to SiriusXM’s “MMA Today” in which he expressed concern over potential consequences of what he’s had to say about the UFC and its treatment of fighters after their careers end with the promotion.
“I’m going to tell you guys frankly, right now, I’m fearful for my motherf*cking life,” Sanchez said. “I’m fearful that this company, this billion-dollar monopoly company worldwide is going to come after me. Something might happen to me in two years, maybe in a couple years. Maybe I wreck my truck. Maybe, ‘Oh, Diego overdosed, some suicide sh*t.’ I don’t know, but I would not put anything past the level of evil that is within this corporation.”
He continued, “If I was to expose some of the stuff that I know about, because I’ve been in this motherf*cker longer than than anybody else and been the only one that survived the b*tch, that went through the dark tunnel and came out the other side.”
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Sanchez, who claimed that he and Fabia have recorded conversations with UFC officials for the past two years as “insurance,” released a video last week purporting to show him (in a wheelchair) and his team stranded at the airport after being left behind by UFC-arranged transportation upon return from Abu Dhabi. He then released video from his UFC 253 fighter meeting ahead of his bout with Jake Matthews last September, which showed Fabia confronting the UFC’s broadcast team about their commentary and treatment of Sanchez.
Toward the end of Sanchez’s interview on “MMA Today,” Sanchez was brought to tears over his request to just get a meeting with UFC president Dana White, which he said never came to fruition.
“I’m going to say this to Dana White: Dana, what’s up, Dana? What’s up, Dana? Man, I tried for two years to get a meeting with you,” Sanchez said. “Oh sh*t. I was the first ‘Ultimate Fighter.’ Didn’t that show do something for the company when it was $60 million in debt? Oh, all those ‘Fight of the Night’ (bonuses). All that TV time (on) Spike TV, Fox TV, ESPN, all of them, and you can’t meet with your boy? I’m there in Vegas training. I’m going to Vegas, and I’m training there weeks on weeks on weeks. I put 60 to 70 weeks in the UFC PI, just to try to get a meeting with you, Dana. Just to try to meet you in crossing.
“But you won’t meet with me? Because you don’t want to hear what I have to say? You don’t want to talk to me? You don’t want to talk to my batsh*t crazy manager? Why? Because he might bring some light? He might bring some awareness to what you’re hiding in the dark? I’m still open to meeting with you, Dana. Be a f*cking man. Be a real f*cking boss, when I’ve bled, I’ve sweat, I’ve f*cking cried. I’ve f*cking cried for this f*cking company. I’ve f*cking sacrificed more than you will ever know. And you can’t f*cking have 45 minutes to meet with me?”
You can watch the full interview in the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXjA2Gyq4vQ
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