Don’t expect to see Din Thomas in-cage, working fighters corners moving forward.
Thomas, a long-time MMA coach now turned UFC analyst, announced that he’s done cornering fighters following Gillian Robertson’s unanimous decision defeat at Saturday’s UFC 330 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
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Thomas was working the UFC broadcast on Paramount+, and stepped out to corner Robertson (17-9 MMA, 14-7 UFC) in her strawweight title fight against champion Mackenzie Dern (17-5 MMA, 12-5 UFC) in the co-main event of the card.
After the fights, on the analyst desk, Thomas revealed that was his last fight as a corner.
“I do have an announcement for you guys,” Thomas said. “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.
“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 clarified he still plans on continuing to coach fighters and helping them train. However, his days of accompanying a fighter through fight week, and being in their corner are over. Thomas cited the stress and work overload as the main reason for his decision.
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“It’s a lot of work – it’s a lot of stress,” Thomas said. “It’s a lot of work. You’ve got to be there all week, and, again, I’ve been slowly telling you, like, I don’t cut weight with them, and it’s not fair to them. They need somebody who’s going to really put that type of work in with them.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Din Thomas retires from cornering fighters after UFC 330 loss
