Michael Chiesa knew of Diego Sanchez's death choke pre-fight: 'I immediately started laughing'

Michael Chiesa caught wind of Diego Sanchez's potentially deadly move before the two entered the cage at UFC 239 but never felt extra harm.

That potentially deadly move Diego Sanchez’s coach warned about backstage at UFC 239? Michael Chiesa caught wind of it before the two entered the cage.

As he sat backstage at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena last July, Chiesa said rumblings started swirling about some odd happenings in his opponent’s locker room. The current welterweight contender and winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 15” said he knew from the moment he signed on to fight Sanchez that a few bizarre moments were likely, but this went beyond anything he could anticipate.

“We’re in the back, and the antics are already going on through fight week, so I’m obviously assuming things are going to be a little weird on fight night – not this bad,” Chiesa told MMA Junkie on Thursday. “It kind of started when Don House came and wrapped my hands, and he was just kind of laughing. He was like, ‘Man, he’s being a wild man back there,’ not really giving me details, but I’m already catching wind that things are kind of weird in the locker room. Then the person that I’m not going to name came to me and was like, ‘Hey, I’ve got to tell you, there’s talks of this crazy submission that he wants to try on you.'”

As MMA Junkie previously reported, Sanchez’s current manager and trainer, Joshua Fabia, warned Nevada Athletic Commission and UFC officials that he had armed his pupil with a maneuver so dangerous that it could potentially paralyze or even kill Chiesa if applied in the fight.

“I got a demonstration of what it was, and I mean, I immediately started laughing,” Chiesa said. “I was like, ‘If you think for a second you’re going to like reverse ‘Stone Cold Stunner’ me in a high-level mixed martial arts contest, you’re off your (expletive) rocker – pardon my language. But yeah, I knew what the move was.

“It was like if he had my chin, and his chest was on the back of my head like a guy would go for a guillotine, and it was like he was going to rotate and turn his back to me while still holding my chin, basically putting the back of my neck on his shoulder, and drop down. We started laughing. We’re like, ‘This is so funny.'”

Commission officials weren’t quite as entertained and wanted to speak with UFC officials before allowing the fight to continue, though the group eventually decided that the risk of Sanchez actually completing such a technique was minimal, at best.

For his part, Chiesa said he never felt any type of heightened concern for his own well-being. In fact, he said his team discussed the possibility of intentionally giving up his neck in the fight just so that when Sanchez applied the hold and began to turn his body, Chiesa could immediately take the back.

“This is the same time I’m hearing about the burning of the sage and all the incense and stuff,” Chiesa said. “Buddy, it’s like you’re prepping to go to a yoga class or something. Like, I’m about to (expletive) beat you up, and you’re trying to figure out how to do these fruitcake moves, and you’re sticking tea tree oil up your nose or whatever the hell it was.

“I knew all this stuff was happening, and it was just funny to us. I think that for them, the shock came from the commission because they’re making a big deal about it. So they’re kind of like, ‘What the hell?’ But no, never at any point did I feel like I was about to be in any type of – there’s no immediate danger to go beyond getting in a mixed martial arts fight, so the guy’s just nuts.”

Chiesa was dominant in the fight, cruising to a decision win, 30-26, on all three judges’ cards, and he’s since added a win over former UFC champ Rafael dos Anjos to his record, as well, putting him on a three-fight winning streak in the welterweight division.

With the pre-UFC 239 incident now public knowledge some seven months after it unfolded, Chiesa said he doesn’t hold any ill will toward Sanchez. However, he does hope the 38-year-old veteran will seek out some additional guidance in the final stages of his legendary MMA career rather than his recent practice of entering the cage with Fabia as his lone cornerman.

“I’m not trying to disrespect (Fabia),” Chiesa said. “He has a particular thing he does well, but I really wish we could see Diego with like, a boxing coach and a couple other guys.”