UFC Hall of Famer Diego Sanchez believes he was cheated in his fight against Austin Trout this past Friday at BKFC Knucklemania 3.
The 41-year-old alleges that Vaseline wasn’t applied on him and that Trout had too much. He claims that the amount of Vaseline on Trout prevented him from utilizing his skills to the fullest. Sanchez threatened to take BKFC to court over the cheating allegations and to overturn the loss.
“First of all I didn’t get any Vaseline put on me!” Sanchez posted on Instagram. “Secondly, I did feel that Vaseline all on his shoulder and his neck during the fight it was put on so heavy I could not utilize the clinch this is cheating everybody so with that being said, I am the victorious champion and I count this as a win. Hopefully we can get the decision overturned. I will be talking with my lawyer soon. @davidfeldmanbkfc @swfightnews @bareknuckle @mmajunkie god always has my back what a relief walking down the mountain to this news.”
Diego Sanchez Wants A Rematch Against Austin Trout in MMA
In another Instagram post, Sanchez went into further detail about his thoughts on the allegations and called for a rematch in MMA against Trout.
“And maybe this was just pure coincidence that I said publicly my game plan was to get inside grab his neck mma style and work from that position! I’m not baring false witness on any one nodoubttrout or @bareknucklefc or G the guy doing it. But facts are it happened and when I decided to take this fight I knew Austin was top notch boxer with a longer reach the main reason I said yes to the fight was my chances in the clinch due to the fact he was used to boxing gloves and the clinch would be new to him giving me my advantage and him his! A fair fight not in mma not in boxing but in a middle place! @davidfeldmanbkfc was nothing but love and respect and we broke all standing Bkfc records attendance and on the app. So maybe it was coincidence but like I said there was no rubbing vaseline on my neck and trust me my jaw is swore today I still have not ate solid food yet I could have used some vaseline on my beard. I have spoke I hope the truth comes out because that was not FairPlay! I’m at the end of my career not done but I feel the end on the horizon. I hope my fans support me in getting justice how bout we do a rematch in mma so I can get my justice. In Jesus name I pray for justice and truth so that whomever messed up should be held accountable for I took a lot of hits with no gloves. If the tables were turned and I bloodied up Austin and a tape came out with me having my neck and full beard being heavily lubed with vaseline! And I promise you I felt that vaseline when my fingers slipped unnaturally off his neck when I did get there!” (h/t MMA Junkie)
Despite the allegations, Sanchez had an unsuccessful BKFC debut. He signed with the bare-knuckle boxing promotion in November 2022 after a long UFC run. His first official UFC fight was in April 2005 and his last was in September 2020. He lost his two prior combat sports fights to Kevin Lee in Eagle FC and Jake Matthews in the UFC.