Diego Sanchez has written a lengthy post on Instagram defending his decision to tell the referee he couldn’t fight on after being hit by an illegal knee in the third round of a fight he was clearly losing against Michel Pereira on Saturday night.
Sanchez says accepting a Disqualification win was a wise move, before going on to criticize the media for what he perceives as their bias against him and his coach Joshua Fabia.
“Notice the picture was the last picture before fight was ruled a DQ aside from the Cut sustained for the illegal blow my face looks clean as F, aside from the cut sustained by the illegal knee?!” Sanchez wrote. “Maybe due to my opponents lack of awareness he lost control and did not recognize I went down from knee to the ribs that broke two ribs. He delivered a kill blow too my head with so much force! Who had to take that head damage me. It was not a glancing blow it was flush with full power and connection! It split my wig & The scar will be with me forever!
“So for me to continue to compete in this head space makes me a coward? No it makes me a #wiseman maybe you should re watch the fight with no sound and witness the improvements in defense and movement when faced against the odds as is! fighting a 26 year old super athletic goliath that out weighs me by 20lbs has 5 inches in reach 5 inches in height, let’s add a uncanny ability to jump and deliver knees. This challenges my ability to get in for a shot, the game has evolved people it’s 2020 not 1996!
“@dc_mma 50 seconds in you and Trevor Wittman @twittman2 start poisonings the mind of the nation wide cast with your this is hard to watch and strange when I’m not taking damage. Protecting myself while still fighting a man who was not willing to stay the pocket and fight with me. I was sentenced to death in my own back yard, why isn’t anyone seeing this? Notice pereira got a three song custom champion only walk out song for his dance walk out? as if he was @stylebender or Jonathan Jones? This is not normal behavior by @ufc then @mikebisping hyping him up the dancing the flips OMG! Why the push is it @wwe now? All I know is the scar is for life and so is the Win! That makes 31 ufc fights in row why isn’t anyone saying that? It’s kinda some legend shit I’m doing.
“Well at least the highest paid top tier fight IQ athlete and legendary champion @thenotoriousmma is not blinded by the smear campaign against me my coach manager and mentor @joshuafabiaknowbody & his company @schoolofselfawareness by the media and others?! Thank you @thenotoriousmma you are a wise man too. It’s been 6 years since we put each others names in our destiny.”
Meanwhile, Pereira has issued a blunt and to the point opinion on how the fight played out.
“Diego Sanchez entered the octagon like a rooster and left like a chicken,” Pereira wrote.
