UFC welterweight Emil Meek says Diego Sanchez’s coach Joshua Fabia ran after him with a sharp knife during a “crazy” training session.
Fabia has come under fire for his unique training and coaching methods in the wake of Sanchez’s DQ win over Michel Pereira at UFC Rio Rancho. There are many in the MMA media and even fans who don’t believe Fabia’s training methods work for mixed martial arts. You can count Meek among the doubters, though he is adamant he doesn’t want to badmouth Sanchez.
Meek says Sanchez reached out to him to come to Las Vegas and train with him and Fabia. Meek said yes, then realized he was in for more than he bargained for them Fabia introduced some very unique training methods for him and Sanchez.
Check out what Meek told the South China Morning Post about his training session with Sanchez and Fabia.
“Man, it was the craziest s*** I’ve ever done. At one point, Joshua, he was running after us in a locked cage with a real, sharp blade, to make us move,” Meek said.
Meek admitted that while he likes Sanchez and Fabia on a personal level, he isn’t sure their training methods will work if the goal is to have success inside the Octagon.
“I’m not going to slam them too much, but I think he kind of lost his grip on it. I even reached out to him after the fight (with Pereira) and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m sorry to see you perform this way, and I think you can do a lot better. Please at least consider what I’m saying,’” Meek said.
“I think this is the problem. He’s always been out there, he’s always been doing his crazy s***, but he’s always been able to supplement it with his MMA training because he’s been a hard worker. Now he’s stepping away from that and just doing the crazy things.
“I don’t think he’s going to do very well in the UFC with this stuff.”
What do you think about what Emil Meek said about Joshua Fabia’s training methods?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 2/20/2020.