Credit: Paramount+
By Drew Lerner on

Gillian Robertson was dealt one of the toughest losses of her career against Mackenzie Dern during UFC 330 on Saturday night, and her coach was ready to abandon her in the immediate aftermath.

Din Thomas, the former UFC star who has transitioned his career into coaching and broadcasting, was cornering Robertson at UFC 330 as she sought to win the first title of her UFC career. Robertson fell in a unanimous decision to Dern after she struggled to get her opponent on the mat to utilize her strong ground game.

After the fight, Thomas appeared on Paramount+’s post-card coverage to drop a bombshell about his coaching future while simultaneously throwing Robertson under the bus.

“I am officially retiring from cornering fighters tonight,” Thomas began. “I’m doing the Matt Serra, I’m no longer cornering fighters.”

“Could we not decide this the night of? Maybe you need time to sit on this?” Paramount+ UFC analyst Chris Weidman pushed back.

“I’ve been sitting on that, and I’m telling you now that’s what I’m doing.”

“Why?” host Kate Scott asked.

“It’s just I told myself that I’d do this with her, that I’d see her journey out, and take her as far as I think she can go,” Thomas said of Robertson. “And this might be as far as she can go.”

That sentiment didn’t go over particularly well with UFC fans, who saw this announcement as unusually cruel towards Robertson after falling short in her first title bout.

“He is probably right about this is as far as she can go. But .. you don’t need to say that on air immediately after your .. friend .. lost the biggest fight of her life man. That was really bad taste,” Jacob Lines wrote on X.

“This is wack as f*ck from Din Thomas,” the popular Anatomy of a Fighter account posted. “I swear people in this sport disappoint me all the time.”

“Gillian Robertson had the toughest loss of her career, and this ass clown throws her under the bus immediately after her fight,” another MMA account posted. “What a class act.”

While MMA holds a unique spot in the world of sports, the timing of this announcement, and how Thomas chose to frame it, is quite bizarre. It would be exceptionally rare for a coach to announce their retirement from other individual sports like tennis or golf in the immediate aftermath of their athlete’s tough loss. To do it live on a television broadcast adds insult to injury.

Even UFC CEO Dana White was a bit confused by the announcement.

“That’s weird. He didn’t say anything to me,” White said after UFC 330. “I didn’t know about that. I’ve never heard about retiring from cornering. That might be a first. That’s the first I’ve ever heard of it.”

About Drew Lerner

Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.

View all posts by Drew Lerner