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Diego Sanchez Bio

Diego J. Sanchez (born December 31, 1981 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) is a Mexican-American mixed martial artist (MMA) with a background in wrestling and Gaidojutsu, system of submission wrestling developed by his longtime, but now former, trainer Greg Jackson. Sanchez is the winner of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter reality series and currently fights as a welterweight with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

He trains at The Arena MMA gym and Throwdown San Diego, where his coaches are Saulo Ribeiro and Tony Palafox.

Mixed Martial Arts career

Sanchez weighing in for his fight against Joe Riggs

Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez wrestled for his high school in New Mexico before starting training MMA while working for UPS. Sanchez eventually joined Jackson's Submission Fighting, still while working for UPS, managing the time between work and training. In 2002, he made his MMA debut for King of the Cage where he also later became a champion.

His UFC debut came when he was chosen as a participant on the first season of the reality show, The Ultimate Fighter. Presented as a young, focused middleweight who only had one goal, to become a UFC champion, he won a contract with the UFC after winning a fight against Kenny Florian, becoming the middleweight winner for the first season of the show. He loves to point out how he was THE original Ultimate Fighter because his fight with Kenny Florian preceded the classic war between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar. Shortly after, Sanchez dropped to welterweight, defeating Brian Gassaway, Nick Diaz, John Alessio, Karo Parisyan, and Joe Riggs.

Sanchez' last fight before his loss to Josh Koscheck was against Joe Riggs on December 13, 2006 at UFC Fight Night 7. Sanchez landed a right hook that knocked Riggs down, followed by a running knee that knocked Riggs out. Sanchez won at 1:45 of the first round, scoring the first UFC knockout of his career.

Sanchez was then cleared to fight Koscheck after serving a three-month suspension following a failed drug test where Sanchez tested positive for the agents found in marijuana.

At the weigh-in for UFC 69, Sanchez shoved Koscheck while they stared each other down.

Sanchez ended up losing by decision to Josh Koscheck at UFC 69, ending his undefeated run, in a fight that was virtually all stand up. Predicted to be one of the best fights of 2007, the bout was slow paced, with very few exchanges. Going into the final moments of the third round, Sanchez was expected to advance in aggression in order to attempt a win, but instead he remained timid, throwing very short, under powered jabs. Koscheck managed to keep Sanchez at bay with superior hand speed and footwork until the bout timed out, to take the win on all three judges' cards.

Several weeks after the fight, Dana White announced that Sanchez was sick on the eve of the fight and almost had to retire when a test came back indicating he had Hepatitis C. Doctors eventually concluded the test results were not correct, but could not diagnose his sickness, so the fight went ahead as planned. The day after the fight Sanchez had a hole in his thigh the "size of a coffee cup" and was diagnosed with a staph infection.

In his next fight he lost a split decision to Jon Fitch at UFC 76 on September 22, 2007 before rebounding against David Bielkheden at UFC 82 with a submission due to strikes. Following the win, Sanchez stopped former Marine Luigi Fioravanti via TKO due to strikes at 4:07 of the third round at The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale. After pulling out of a fight with Thiago Alves due to an injury, Sanchez announced he would be moving to the lightweight division.

Move to Lightweight

His next fight was then scheduled for February 21, 2009 at UFC 95 against Joe Stevenson in the lightweight division. Training for the bout Sanchez worked with professional boxers Joey Gilbert and Lupe Aquino, Brazilian grappling experts Xande and Saulo Ribeiro and wrestling coach Bob Anderson. Although Stevenson pressed the action throughout the bout, Sanchez landed the better strikes and won by unanimous decision. Diego credits Tony Robbins for giving him mental preparation for this latest fight, and was seen entering the bout chanting "yes" repeatedly.

On June 20, 2009, Sanchez won a split-decision victory against Clay Guida at the finale of The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom Finale. Sanchez won Fight of the Night honors, his second such award in a row. Opening up with a seemingly endless barrage of jabs and right uppercuts for the first minute he shook Guida, in the first round Sanchez also connected with a head kick that floored his opponent. Sanchez maintained a superior standup through the first round and the rest of the fight, though Guida rallied and made a contest of the next two rounds in a closely contested match. The fight went on to win "Fight of the Year" by several MMA magazines and the UFC.

At UFC 107 on December 12, 2009, Sanchez fought and lost to BJ Penn for the UFC Lightweight Championship. Early in the first round, Penn landed a right hand that dropped Sanchez, followed by flurry of punches that almost prompted referee Herb Dean to stop the fight. Although Sanchez was able to recover enough to stay in the bout, he was outclassed in the following 3 rounds that saw Penn dominate with superior stand up, whilst all 27 takedown attempts made by Sanchez were negated by Penn's superior defence. Early in the fifth round, Penn landed a head kick that caused a large cut to be opened up on the forehead. Herb Dean called the action to a halt for doctor's advice and the fight ended at 2:37 by TKO, marking the first time Sanchez has been stopped in a fight. This also marked only the second fight in UFC history to end in the fifth round. At the post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White was quoted saying Sanchez was "about as busted up as I've ever seen a guy." Sanchez had his bottom lip completely split open, with his left eye swollen shut and a large cut above his left eyebrow.

Return to Welterweight

Following his loss to Penn, Sanchez has claimed that he will be going back to fighting as a welterweight.

Sanchez has confirmed via Twitter that his next fight will be back at welterweight against John Hathaway at UFC 114.

Personal life

Diego was engaged to Ali Sonoma. The pair separated. Diego is a devout follower of personal power guru Tony Robbins’ teachings and occasional meditation sessions in the rain and the ocean, which he believes allows him to absorb energy from the elements.

Championships and awards

Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighter 1 Middleweight Tournament Winner

×2 Fight of the Night Honors

King of the Cage

KOTC Welterweight Championship

World MMA Awards

2009 Fight of the Year vs. Clay Guida on June 20th

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Fight of the Year (2006) vs. Karo Parisyan on August 17th

Fight of the Year (2009) vs. Clay Guida on June 20th

MMA record

External links

• Diego Sanchez Official Website
• Diego Sanchez at MySpace
• Professional MMA record for Diego Sanchez from Sherdog
• The Arena MMA

MMA Shirts

Diego Sanchez Photos