Gillian Robertson broke her silence regarding the controversy swirling around her UFC 330 loss and longtime coach Din Thomas.
In a statement released to The Ariel Helwani Show, Robertson addressed the fallout from Thomas announcing Saturday that he would be retiring from corner work after Robertson’s loss to strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern. Thomas has faced plenty of backlash for the timing of his announcement, with UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland calling Thomas “a shit coach” for his handling of the situation.
Thomas issued a public apology on his Deep Waters podcast, describing his own actions as “despicable,” but there are still sore feelings on Robertson’s side.
“Prior to the broadcast, I didn’t see any sign of what was to be said,” Robertson said in her statement to Helwani regarding whether Thomas informed her of his plans prior to appearing on the UFC 330 post-fight show. “After the broadcast, he had said, ‘I will address this in the morning,’ followed by, ‘Going live on air in 15 minutes.’”
By this account, it sounds as though Thomas had little to say to Robertson from the time that the fighter contacted him about the growing controversy to when he went live on his podcast.
Robertson added that there have been private correspondences between her, her team, and Thomas, none of which have cleared the air in a meaningful way.
“He did reach out to me privately at 5 p.m. and then sent a voice message apologizing around 7:30 p.m., 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,’” Robertson said in her statement.
Thomas has coached Robertson since she was 15 years old, with the Canadian standout eventually making it to the UFC in 2017 and setting submission records at 125 pounds before dropping to the strawweight division, where she won five straight fights to earn her crack at Dern.
However, this incident casts a grim cloud over their working relationship and it’s unclear if Thomas will be involved in helping Robertson prepare for her fights in any capacity going forward.
“I don’t think there’s a conversation to be had,” Robertson 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.”