Video: Joshua Fabia punches and kicks upside-down Diego Sanchez in bizarre training footage

Just when you thought the Diego Sanchez-Joshua Fabia saga couldn’t get any stranger.

On Friday, training footage featuring Sanchez and Fabia began to circulate that featured the recently released UFC veteran in two bizarre scenes with Fabia providing his questionable brand of coaching.

The first part of the video is comprised of Sanchez hanging upside down and being struck by Fabia, who punches, slaps, and kicks Sanchez. Sanchez just dangles from side to side, going from an inverted meditation stance to covering his face, but otherwise does not move.

In the second part, a blindfolded Sanchez maneuvers around the ring and occasionally rushes forward as Fabia flicks at him with a black belt.

The video has since been pulled from YouTube, but clips from it are still available on Twitter.

It’s unclear where this footage originates from, how it became public, or when it was filmed, though it does appear to be a deliberate production on the part of Fabia (at one point, Fabia makes sure that the cameraperson is filming).

Fabia has been a controversial figure since he first started making public appearances with Sanchez ahead of Sanchez’s fight with Michel Pereira at UFC Rio Rancho in February 2020. He has drawn criticism from the media and fans for how he has portrayed himself as a mentor to Sanchez and he butted heads with UFC officials prior to Sanchez’s recent release from the promotion.

Fighters Donald Cerrone and Angela Hill have also criticized Fabia, with Cerrone calling him a “cult leader,” and Hill saying that Fabia’s attitude caused tension with the UFC broadcast team.

In a recent interview with SiriusXM’s Fight Nation, Sanchez claimed that the UFC is conspiring against him and Fabia and that he fears retaliation from his former employer.