Matt Serra criticizes Diego Sanchez’s coach following UFC Rio Rancho

Matt Serra believes Diego Sanchez could use better advice in his corner.

Much has been made about Sanchez’s camp situation after leaving Jackson-Wink MMA. The “Nightmare” was thought of to be a mainstay at the popular gym in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It wasn’t meant to be as Sanchez felt he was underappreciated at the gym after all the time and money he spent.

Sanchez emerged victorious at UFC Rio Rancho with coach Joshua Fabia by his side but that isn’t the full story. Sanchez was outworked in the first two rounds against Michel Pereira and ultimately won due to a disqualification. Criticisms continued to reign down on Fabia due to his corner advice.

On an edition of the UFC Unfiltered podcast, Matt Serra agreed that Sanchez’s corner needs some tweaking.

“I’m not saying he sh*t on his old coaches but a little bit,” Matt Serra said. “He was saying how much better this new guy is. It’s his mentor. In the corner with [Joshua Fabia], he had only one guy in his corner and the guy was telling him, he was trying to be stern telling him to cut the BS and, ‘I want you to take him down.’ Listen, just like master Renzo [Gracie] was talking about the setup he did for that takedown with the single leg in the southpaw stance. Give him a direction to go in. ‘Hey man, make him think of the hands lower level. Lower your level, go for that single leg.'”

While one would think it’s all doom and gloom for the 38-year-old Sanchez, he has gone 3-1 in his last four outings. In that span, he’s beaten Craig White, Mickey Gall, and now Pereira. The loss came at the hands of Michael Chiesa via unanimous decision back in July 2019.

Do you think Diego Sanchez should do away with his coach?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 2/19/2020.