The ‘Nightmare’ and his team apparently ended up stranded at the Vegas airport after returning home from his last bout in Abu Dhabi.
It seems more than just Diego Sanchez’s last bout in the UFC didn’t go to plan for the longtime MMA veteran. The ‘Nightmare’ faced off against Jake Matthews, last September on the undercard of UFC 253 at the du Forum in Abu Dhabi, losing the bout by unanimous decision.
Adding insult to injury, after arriving back in the states in Las Vegas, Sanchez apparently got ditched at the airport. A recent post on Instagram included video from the incident, where Sanchez claims that he went to find a bathroom after disembarking from his flight, only to realize once he returned that the UFC bus had left for the hotel without him or his corner team, including UFC veteran Stephan Bonnar, on board.
“So we just got back from Abu Dhabi,” Sanchez’s coach, Joshua Fabia, said in the video included in the fighter’s account of the incident. “Diego got off the plane, got a little bit of a limp, having to walk slow and go to the restroom. And, as all the people from the UFC went ahead of us, and not one representative cared to look back and see where we were at, they all went to baggage claim and they all went on a bus and somehow loaded up and left us sitting here, in the airport. So that Diego ‘Nightmare’ Sanchez is stuck getting food out of a fucking vending machine. This is our reality.
“So, when I’m telling you the UFC is not so respectful, or doing Diego right, THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT! Look at this fucking place! There ain’t nothing else going on but us. And Diego got left. Did Diego not put on a show? You remember that.”
In the post itself, Sanchez notes that eventually Fabia had to call the UFC in order to get an Uber sent to pick them up, adding that “never in my 18 years with UFC has this ever happened to anyone let alone a whole team.” Following up on the post, Sanchez also noted that he and his corner were “on the UFC schedule and on perfect time” for the bus’ planned departure.
Sanchez is currently scheduled to fight Donald Cerrone at UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs. Dillashaw, on May 8th at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, NV. Sanchez has previously announced that the bout will be the last of his 19-year MMA career, stretching back to his pro debut in 2002.