Din Thomas has cornered his final fight at UFC 330.
On Saturday night, UFC analyst Din Thomas pulled double duty, not only working on the desk for UFC 330, but also serving as one of the corners for Gillian Robertson in her strawweight title shot against Mackenzie Dern. Unfortunately for both Robertson, “The Savage” did not have her best night in the office. Thomas seemed especially frustrated with Robertson’s inability to get her offense going, telling her to “wake up” at one point between rounds, and while she ultimately won the fifth round of the bout, Robertson lost a clear unanimous decision to Dern. Then after the fight, she also lost one of her cornermen.
“For my announcement — I do have an announcement for you guys — I told myself I would continue to do this until I took Gillian as far as she could go; I think that might be as far as she can go, and I am officially retiring from cornering fighters tonight,” Thomas said on the UFC post-fight show. “I’m doing the Matt Serra: I’m no longer cornering fighters.”
Widely respected as a fighter, Thomas has been coaching for nearly three decades, including a long stint at American Top Team where he worked with several UFC champions, including Amanda Nunes and Tyron Woodley; however, in recent years, Thomas has become a bigger part of the UFC production, both as an analyst and as the host of the promotion’s YouTube show, Deep Waters. And with so many demands piling up, Thomas says this is the time to walk away.
“It’s just, I told myself that I would do this with her, I would see her journey out, and take her as far as I think she can go. And this might be as far as she can go,” Thomas said. “Listen, I’m the host of Deep Waters now [laughs]. …
“I’ll still work with guys; it’s just a matter of going down that road with cornering. It’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of work, it’s a lot of stress. It’s a lot of work; you’ve got to be there all week.
“I’ve been slowly telling you. I don’t cut weight with them — and it’s not fair to them. They need somebody who is really going to put that type of work in with them.”
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