Matt Brown criticises Din Thomas's timing after coach drops Robertson post-UFC 330 title loss

UFC veteran and full-time coach Matt Brown has spoken out about Din Thomas’s decision to publicly drop Gillian Robertson as a fighter moments after her unanimous decision loss to Mackenzie Dern in a strawweight title fight at UFC 330 on Saturday.

Robertson was taken down repeatedly and nearly submitted by Dern across the bout, losing in lopsided fashion in what was her first UFC title fight. Immediately afterwards, Thomas appeared on the post-fight show and announced he was retiring from cornering fighters, adding that he had wanted to take Robertson as far as she could go in her career — and that the loss to Dern “might be as far as she can go.”

The comments drew widespread criticism for their timing, and on Monday Thomas issued what he described as a profound apology, calling his own announcement “despicable.” Brown, speaking on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer, stopped short of condemning Thomas outright but made clear he found the moment poorly judged.

“It seemed like odd timing. I don’t know Din, but it seemed odd to make it about himself in that situation,” Brown said. “You should just talk about the fight. You’re an analyst. Talk about the fight and what happened in the fight and leave it at that.”

Brown was careful to acknowledge he does not know the full nature of Thomas and Robertson’s professional relationship, noting that many coaches operate on a purely transactional basis. His own approach, he said, is built on personal loyalty rather than business terms.

“I’m always clear with my fighters that the relationship comes first,” Brown said. “I’ll train you as a friend because we like hanging out together and we like working together and I’ll give you all the information that I’ve got because I want to see you succeed as a friend. When you have that kind of relationship, you stick with your person no matter what.”

Brown added that regardless of how emotional a fight night becomes, he would never choose that moment to walk away from one of his fighters. “I didn’t think it was really necessary. You should have saved it for later,” he said. “The way that he did it, I’m not a fan of. I reserve judgment for once I have all the facts and we simply don’t know what their relationship was — maybe there’s more to it than that.”

Robertson herself has not yet publicly responded to Thomas’s comments or his subsequent apology.