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Din Thomas stirred massive controversy after announcing his retirement from cornering fighters following his longtime pupil Gillian Robertson’s loss against Mackenzie Dern at UFC 330. Many thought he would stick to his decision. However, the former American Top Team coach recently made a complete U-turn on his decision, leaving many of the MMA world’s biggest names genuinely stunned.
In his recent appearance on Paramount+’s Deep Waters show, Thomas revealed that he is considering cornering fighter Sean Brady against Gabriel Bonfim, a fight scheduled to take place on November 7 at the Meta APEX. Though the 49-year-old said he was “not sure,” that was enough to baffle his co-hosts Dustin Poirier, Jorge Masvidal, and Chris Weidman. Now, prominent MMA journalist Ariel Helwani has also reacted to Din Thomas’ claims.
“And Din, on the show, says to Masvidal, Poirier, and Weidman, they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re not going to corner him, right?’ He’s like, ‘No, I’m going to corner him,” Helwani said on his show. “And then they’re like, ‘What? We were just trying to defend you, and now you’re saying you’re going to corner him? Didn’t you just retire from cornering?” And then he makes a joke about Cash App and, ‘Let’s see,’ and all that. But initially, it seems like he’s being very serious that he’s going to corner Sean Brady.
“My head is exploding looking at this, like, ‘Wait a second, you just said you’re done. You said you want nothing to do with this anymore. [Gillian has] gone as far as you can take her. You think she can go. You’re done with it. You just want to focus on the media stuff and all that. But you’re going to corner Sean Brady in November. What is that? Now it just feels personal against Gillian Robertson, who you’ve been with for 15 years as a coach, trainer, cornerman, and fighter. Very bizarre.”
Whether Din Thomas actually corners Sean Brady against Gabriel Bonfim remains to be seen. Regardless of that, the former ATT coach reconsidering his decision before even a week has passed since Gillian Robertson’s loss does raise some questions about the sincerity of Thomas’ retirement announcement.
Recently, the Canadian fighter sent a message to Ariel Helwani, revealing that Thomas privately apologized to her on Monday. However, she has since refused to accept her coach’s apology, saying she felt disrespected by Thomas’ comments about her during the UFC 330 broadcast. She also revealed there was “not much weight” behind Thomas’ apology.
Alongside Robertson, UFC CEO Dana White also called the announcement “weird”, while color commentator Jon Anik criticized Din Thomas for the comments he made during the broadcast in Philadelphia. But it would be interesting to see how they react if the longtime coach actually decides to walk out and corner Sean Brady against Gabriel Bonfim.
