A video went viral a short time ago showing coach Diogenes Assahida attacking student Ulisses Teodoro in front of his own muay thai school in Campina Grande Do Sul, Brazil.
Former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva is a former pupil of Assahida’s and he is critical of what Assahida did to that student.
”I think each person has its own views,” Silva said at a UFC 237 media day (via Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting). “I’m from a time where you respect your coach, the coach respected the student. I never had any problem with any of my coaches, I’ve always respected them. I have (Rogerio) Camoes, master (Luiz) Dorea and master (Ricardo) De La Riva as second fathers for me because they are always helping me, always showing me the path to go to get to where I want. That’s an isolated fact, it’s sad, because when you’re titled a master you have to give the example no matter if your student leaves the gym or not, if he continues or not. He has to follow his own path. The moment you open a gym, and you pass your knowledge forward, you can’t stop this student from creating his own path. Unfortunately, each person has his own views and opinions about it. It’s an unfortunate fact.”
Teodoro did press charges against Assahida for the attack and his lawyer issued the following statement to MMA Fighting:
”This image damages martial arts a little bit because martial arts are about respect, humbleness and especially balance, which lacked at that moment. He’s a respected master, has a history, and I don’t know what motivated him to lose his head. I respect him, I also train martial arts, but, unfortunately, he committed a crime and will be held responsible for it.”
Assahida had trained Silva when Silva won the UFC Middleweight Title over Rich Franklin over a decade ago, but the pair hasn’t worked together in quite some time now.
