Fabia uses Sanchez as punching bag; McGregor, others, angered by video

In yet another bizarre training video, Diego Sanchez hangs upside down as Joshua Fabia repeatedly punches, slaps and kicks him in the head. While Joshua Fabia is in the middle of Diego Sanchez’s sudden and controversial release,…


Joshua Fabia repeatedly punched, slapped and kicked an inverted Diego Sanchez on the head.

In yet another bizarre training video, Diego Sanchez hangs upside down as Joshua Fabia repeatedly punches, slaps and kicks him in the head.

While Joshua Fabia is in the middle of Diego Sanchez’s sudden and controversial release, yet another bizarre clip has surfaced involving the pair.

In the video that has since been deleted by the original uploader, Sanchez is seen doing some baffling “training.”

Most notable was the segment where Sanchez hangs upside down, while Fabia uses his head almost like a speed bag, punching his chin and head repeatedly. He then moves on by slapping Sanchez in the face and head again and again.

Joshua Fabia kept punching and slapping Diego Sanchez in his jaw and head.
Joshua Fabia kept punching and slapping Diego Sanchez in his jaw and head.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Fabia then starts kicking him in the head over and over as he hangs upside down with his eyes closed.

Joshua Fabia kicks Diego Sanchez to the head, while he hangs upside down with his eyes closed.
Joshua Fabia kicks Diego Sanchez to the head, while he hangs upside down with his eyes closed.

By the end of the clip, Sanchez is also seen blindfolded inside a boxing ring, and Fabia is there whipping him with a black belt.

A blindfolded Diego Sanchez being whipped by Joshua Fabia.

The original video was taken down, as with other clips on social media, but as expected with the internet, it’s likely going to stay up as it’s already been re-uploaded on various platforms.

Fabia has bragged about how Sanchez doesn’t take much damage in the fights he badly lost under his tutelage, but this footage looks to be him doing exactly just that, and doling some very unnecessary head trauma. Many in the MMA community were bothered and even angered by the training video, and a number of people have spoken out against it.

In a string of tweets that have since been deleted, Conor McGregor threatened to break Fabia’s nose after watching the clip, and urged Sanchez to finally “ditch him.”

“This is just madness! I’ll break this things nose in half,” McGregor wrote. “This not the move Diego, my bro. I been with ye the whole way, and still am. But this is not on. It was unfair treatment by commentary and fans on your last performance imo, for sure. But not on this guy, 0-0. Ditch.”

McGregor says this is very different from typical body conditioning that some fighters do, as this involves head trauma.

“I’m actually on the side of body hardening work also. Work the body etc. But doing it hanging upside down, and getting the dome of the head struck repeatedly, while covering vision, is preposterous! Grab this guy by the ears and head butt him at his front door first thing,” McGregor continued.

“I watched the engagement with the broadcast team with an open minded judgement and an understanding that there was disrespectful comments made against you. You were right to pull this up. But the other guy took over the convo. Made it all about him. This is not his story Diego.

“Box his nose in and ditch him.”