Din Thomas’ UFC 330 aftermath just got a whole lot worse. After receiving criticism for announcing his retirement from cornering shortly after Gillian Robertson’s defeat against Mackenzie Dern this past Saturday, the UFC analyst is now facing a much more serious accusation. According to Kelvin Gastelum, the senior coach had also leaked information from Robbie Lawler’s training camp ahead of his title fight against Tyron Woodley in 2016.
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“This is the same individual who acted as a mole during Robbie Lawler’s camp, leaking crucial preparation details to Tyron Woodley’s team ahead of their fight,” Gastelum wrote on X. “A fight Woodley ultimately won via a brutal first-round knockout.
“His latest apology feels less like genuine remorse and more like a calculated response to public outrage. True character is revealed in how we act when no one is watching, not how we damage control when the world finds out.”
The fight Gastelum is referring to here came at UFC 201 in July 2016, when Lawler was defending his UFC welterweight title against Tyron Woodley. In what was a major upset at the time, ‘The Chosen One’ knocked Lawler out in the first round, becoming the new champion at 170 lbs.
While it’s difficult to ascertain whether the UFC middleweight’s accusations are true, what is true is that Thomas was one of the coaches and cornermen for Tyron Woodley during the bout and played a pivotal role in his becoming the welterweight champion at the time.
Regardless, this presents a whole different level of controversy. Din Thomas was already under fire for making Gillian Robertson’s UFC 330 loss about himself. And while he did eventually apologize to her, stating he had been selfish and that the timing of his announcement and his choice of words were completely inappropriate, Kelvin Gastelum’s latest words have dragged an entirely separate and far more explosive allegation into the mess.
The 34-year-old’s new accusation adds to the growing controversy surrounding Thomas despite his recent attempt to make amends with Gillian Robertson on UFC’s Deep Waters show. The longtime coach admitted that announcing his retirement immediately following her title loss was “completely irresponsible,” “despicable,” and apologized for “stealing her moment.” He also apologized for his remarks during the UFC broadcast where he claimed that “this might be as far as she can go.”
However, despite the public apology, Robertson has expressed reservations about the authenticity of it all, stating that Din Thomas had privately made comments that made her question his intentions.
“Prior to the broadcast, I didn’t see any sign of what was to be said,” Robertson’s statement to Helwani on the controversy read. “After the broadcast, [Din Thomas] had said, ‘I will address this in the morning.’ He did reach out to me privately at 5 pm, and then sent a voice message apologizing around 7:30 pm, to which I have not responded due to comments he has made since the broadcast privately to my team that lead me to believe there is not much weight in the apology, such as, ‘Me doing that publicly was more so for TV purposes and ratings.'”
For now, Gillian Robertson simply wants to avoid having a conversation with Din Thomas.
“I don’t think there’s a conversation to be had,” she added. “I’m good with everything. The people who sign my checks are cool.
“As for now, I regroup, take some time to heal, and I will be back in the gym as soon as possible on the same mission.”
With Gillian Robertson apparently unwilling to revisit the situation, and Kelvin Gastelum accusing him of being a mole, the entire controversy puts Din Thomas in a difficult position. However, it is worth noting that the 34-year-old is hardly the only UFC fighter to criticize Thomas following the UFC 330 debacle.
Hector Lombard launches scathing attack on Din Thomas
The criticism surrounding Din Thomas has expanded beyond Kelvin Gastelum, with former UFC fighter Hector Lombard launching a brutal attack on the longtime coach. ‘Showeather’ slammed Thomas on Instagram and Threads, calling Thomas a “snake in the grass,” a “clown,” a “hater,” and an “imposter.”
And not just that, he also accused the UFC analyst of speaking negatively about others behind their backs while portraying himself differently in public.
“I told you, I told you that your day was going to come, you fake f—,” Lombard said in the video. “You are a source of fake guy. Bro, I told you in your face. By the way, you know, remember what happened between me and you. And you don’t tell nobody, but yeah, you talk a lot of trash about me behind my back.
“I know everywhere, everywhere you went, you talk a lot of trash about me. But truth always come out. Truth always come out, and you expose yourself that you are a fake f—. You are a source of fake. Motherf—–, you fake.”
The two men share a lengthy history at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida. Din Thomas was an early veteran fighter at the gym before moving on to coaching, while Hector Lombard trained there for most of his elite fighting career.
Lombard further admitted in the video that his resentment for the UFC analyst stemmed from a major personal incident in which he allegedly stepped in to protect Thomas.
“And I saved your a–. Remember the conversation that we had? And I told you, and I saved your a– from a hole,” he continued. “But you are creepy. You are a creepy guy. You’re creepy, and everywhere you went, because you couldn’t take it, because you cannot handle the truth.
“Everywhere you went, you talk bad about me. But now, and now you expose yourself that you are a fake f—.”
Lombard then turned his attention to Thomas’ relationship with Robertson, arguing that the fighter had placed significant trust in her coach throughout her entire MMA career, only for Thomas to ultimately let her down after her big loss.
“Gillian, she loved… that girl loves you, bro,” Lombard added. “And this is what you did to her. She put all her trust, all her career in you. But like I said, guys, you can never, you can never put your trust in fake people. They’re gonna leave you empty.
“And he did it. He did it to Gillian. You did it to Tyron Woolley. You have done it to everybody. You have done it to everybody. You are a fake motherf—–. You are an imposter.”
The latest comments add yet another layer to the backlash surrounding Din Thomas, as he continues to face criticism from several figures in the MMA community. First, it was Sean Strickland calling him out. This was followed by Kelvin Gastelum’s ‘mole’ accusation, and now it’s Hector Lombard going scorched earth with his public reveal of Thomas being an ‘imposter.’
With Gillian Robertson also hinting that an entirely different conversation took place behind the scenes, it seems like Din Thomas will not be out of the negative spotlight, at least for a while now.
