As far as [autotag]Diego Sanchez[/autotag] is concerned, he was just trying to make things easier on his future self by asking the UFC for his medical records.
Sanchez, a Season 1 winner of “The Ultimate Fighter,” was pulled from his May 8 fight against Donald Cerrone and subsequently released from the UFC. Sanchez’s fight with “Cowboy” was expected to be his farewell from the promotion.
Instead, his unceremonious exit came after Sanchez’s manager, Joshua Fabia, reached out to the UFC’s medical team requesting the fighter’s records throughout his 16-year history with the promotion. That set off alarm bells for the UFC, whose chief legal officer, Hunter Campbell, reached out to Sanchez and Fabia to clarify what was going on.
In a video posted Friday to his Instagram page, Sanchez said he received a text message from UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby underscoring the importance of replying to Campbell.
“It was a message saying, ‘Diego, you need to check your email, because Hunter sent you an email, and it’s extremely important that you read this email and respond to this email by tomorrow, or the fight is going to be canceled,'” Sanchez said.
Sanchez (30-13 MMA, 19-13 UFC) indicated that message from Shelby took him by surprise, and he “replied the best way I could to Hunter’s email, and that’s with my lawyer’s advice.”
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“UFC wanted me to state that I am not experiencing any neurological issues and that I have no long-term health side effects from fighting a career of (16) years in the UFC,” Sanchez said. “My advisers told me, ‘Basically what they’re trying to do is, right before you finish your last fight, they’re trying to make sure they have documentation of you saying that you never sustained anything. So basically you’re being forced, being bullied into waiving your medical rights, possible (UFC) medical liabilities.’ With that being said, the email was sent to Hunter, and the response was very fast. … The letter said they have chosen to pay me 100 percent for the fight, show money, win money, and sponsorship money.”
Although the timing is unclear, at some point a phone call took place between Campbell and Fabia, who leaked the audio. On the call, Campbell expressed concern and quoted Fabia as saying “long-term effects of Diego being an MMA fighter” were the basis for requesting Sanchez’s medical records. According to Campbell, the UFC would not be “putting anybody in that cage that doesn’t feel 100 percent or thinks they’re suffering from any medical issues” and was prepared to part ways with Sanchez if he and Fabia couldn’t confirm otherwise.
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In his Friday video, Sanchez said he’d already underwent and passed the required medical tests to compete at UFC on ESPN 24. He questioned why his request for his medical records changed anything.
“Why, when this has already been done, do I have to state this, state that?” Sanchez said. “Yeah, my manager did ask for my list of medicals from throughout my career. I’ve had a lot of injuries. I want to have my history. This is my medical history. I want to have it on file. I want to have what the UFC has. It’s my medical health, right? And as far as I’m concerned, I don’t feel like, after I’m done, if (UFC president) Dana White won’t answer my calls now, won’t let me have a meeting now, once I’m done and I’m out of the UFC, do you think I’m gonna be able to get a hold of anybody? Do you think anything’s gonna go through? No, nothing’s gonna go through. I’m never gonna get sh*t from them.”
Sanchez also addressed the controversy surrounding Fabia, whose unconventional training methods have raised eyebrows. Fabia’s critics claim that the School of Self-Awareness founder has brainwashed Sanchez since taking over as his trainer and manager in 2019.
Sanchez said there’s nothing to worry about.
“If this was the case, I wouldn’t be sticking by his side, having his back,” Sanchez said. “The truth of the whole matter is me and him having each other’s back against a billion-dollar monopoly world-wide organization.”
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