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Diego Sanchez Bio
Diego J. Sanchez (born December 31, 1981) is an American mixed martial artist (MMA) of Mexican descent, with a background in wrestling and Gaidojutsu, system of submission wrestling developed by his longtime trainer Greg Jackson. He currently fights as a welterweight with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Sanchez was the winner of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter reality series after defeating Kenny Florian in the tournament finals. Sanchez is currently ranked as the #9 welterweight fighter in the world by MMAWeekly.
Early life
Sanchez was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He attended Del Norte High School, where he became a state champion wrestler.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010
Mixed martial Arts career
Diego Sanchez wrestled 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. On the show, Sanchez was known for being the "odd-ball" of the group, practicing yoga at odd moments and trying to extract "energy" from a lightning storm, and was also a self-proclaimed "Zen master". 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 defense. 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 announced that he would be going back to fighting as a welterweight.
Diego Sanchez made his return to his hometown, Albuquerque, New Mexico and has been training at Albuquerque Kickboxing & MMA for his return to welterweight.
Sanchez then faced John Hathaway on May 29, 2010 at UFC 114. In the first round of the fight, Hathaway caught Sanchez with a knee to the head as Sanchez attempted a takedown. Hathaway then dominated with ground and pound while all of Sanchez's takedown attempts were negated by Hathaway's strength, while through the rest of the way fight saw Hathaway utilize his superior striking reach, giving him the unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26), handing Sanchez his second consecutive loss.
Sanchez recently rejoined Jackson's Submission Fighting for his fight with Paulo Thiago. Sanchez defeated Paulo Thiago by unanimous decision on October 23, 2010 at UFC 121 in California. In this fight, Sanchez utilized his wrestling to control and punish Thiago in the second and third rounds. The bout even saw Sanchez get a powerful slam on Thiago in the second round.
Sanchez defeated Martin Kampmann by a controversial unanimous decision on March 3, 2011 at UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann in a bout that earned Fight of the Night honors. In a bout, Kampmann dropped Sanchez in the first round, and continue to get the better in the exchanged. By the end of the match, both men were bloodied up, Sanchez continuously pressured Kampmann into the cage to force wild exchanges in the second and third rounds.
Sanchez was expected to face Matt Hughes on September 24, 2011 at UFC 135; however on September 5, Sanchez had to withdraw from the bout due to a broken hand.
A bout between Sanchez and Jake Ellenberger was briefly linked to UFC 141. However, a lingering hand injury is expected to keep Sanchez out of action until February 2012.
Sanchez/Ellenberger is expected to take place on February 15, 2012 at UFC on Fuel TV 1
Personal life
Sanchez married his girlfriend, Bernadette on May 21, 2011.
Championships and awards
Mixed martial arts
- Ultimate Fighting Championship
- The Ultimate Fighter 1 Middleweight Tournament Winner
- Fight of the Night (Four times)
- King of the Cage
- KOTC Welterweight Championship (One time)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- 2009 Fight of the Year vs. Clay Guida on June 20
- 2006 Fight of the Year vs. Karo Parisyan on August 17
- World MMA Awards
- 2009 Fight of the Year vs. Clay Guida on June 20
- Inside MMA
- 2009 Bazzie Award for Fight of the Year vs. Clay Guida on June 20
Submission grappling
- Grapplers Quest
- Grapplers Quest Champion (Seven times)
- Grapplers Quest Hall of Fame
Amateur wrestling
- New Mexico Activities Association
- NMAA High School Wrestling State Champion
Mixed martial arts record
External links
- Diego Sanchez Official Website
- Diego Sanchez on Myspace
- Official UFC Profile
- Professional MMA record for Diego Sanchez from Sherdog
MMA Shirts
