MMA Legacy 6.15.09: Diego Sanchez

Posted by Bill Wannop on 06.15.2009

With the Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale taking place this Saturday, we examine the MMA Legacy of the man in the main event and very first Ultimate Fighter winner, Diego Sanchez. From his time in the house to his wars with Nick Diaz, Karo Parisyan and Josh Koscheck we will see how scary the Nightmare has become. Plus UFC 99 thoughts and more.

Each and every week MMA Legacy shines the spotlight on a MMA legend. The legends may be retired or may be still actively competing. The column will begin with a bio on the selected legend following his career throughout its highs and lows. With The Ultimate Figter 9 Final this Saturday, MMA Legacy will look at the career of one of the original winners of the Ultimate Fighter 1, who is also in the main event against Clay Guida, Diego "Nightmare"Sanchez.

Diego Sanchez was born December 31, 1981 in Albuquerque, New Mexico (making him 27 years old today). As a young boy Diego was very intense and athletic, and like most children was enrolled in karate at age 9. He enjoyed the physical and mental toughness that was required when training in martial arts.

Once he entered Del Norte High School in New Mexico, Diego joined the football team where he played linebacker, and the wrestling team, where in his senior year, won the 152lbs state championship. Following high school, Diego did not attend college, instead deciding to begin training in mixed martial arts in order to become a fighter. While he was training MMA, in order to pay the bills Diego got a job working for UPS. For the next two years Diego would split his time between working for UPS and training. While training, Diego met up with Greg Jackson, one of the best trainers currently in the sport and joined Jasckson's Submission Fighting. From his time with Greg Jackson, Diego adapted his fighting style of Gaidojutsu which is a system of submission wrestling mixed with judo.

After all the training it finally became time for Diego to step inside the cage and show what he could do. On June 21, 2002, Diego had his first professional fight, at Ring of Fire 5: Predators against Michael Johnson. In the fight, Michael rocked Diego early and opened up a cut above his eye. In between rounds Diego went to his corner and began to question why he would want to do this as his career. The one thing that kept him going was the fact that Diego felt he was better then his opponent and related fighting to war. He would not be defeated by this man across from him. In the second round Diego seemed more determined to win and eventually locked in a rear naked choke for the submission victory.



In his next fight, Diego did not have the previous hesitation, and dominated his opponent Jesus Sanchez, winning by TKO in the first round at Aztec Challenge 1. After this fight, Diego would compete the next four fights in the King of the Cage organization. In his KOTC debut he dominated Jake Short and ended the fight in the first round by TKO, before defeating his next two opponents both by armbar also in the first round.. Diego's opponent finally survived the first round at King of the Cage 26, we he went up against John Cronk. But early in the second round, Diego finished him off by Kimura. Diego would have 2 fights in independent organizations (Independent Events, and Pride of Albuquerque winning both to bring his record to 9-0, with only 2 of his fights leaving the first round.

Diego returned to KOTC in May 2004 and defeated Ray Elbe by submission due to strikes. He then went on to face Jorge Santiago who took the fight to the judges for the first time in Diego's career. Diego was able to win the unanimous decision to keep his record a perfect 11-0. Diego was making a name for himself on the smaller shows, which would eventually pay off and change his life forever.

During this time, the UFC was creating a reality show, in which fighters would compete and live together in a house, and the winner would earn a six figure fight contract with the company. Diego earned a spot on the show as a middleweight coached by Chuck Liddel. In the first bracket of fights Diego fought Alex Karalexis and submitted him in 1:47 of the first round by rear naked choke. In the semi finals Diego went to a decision against stand out wrestler Josh Koscheck and won a split decision. This earned Diego a spot in the finals where he would face current lightweight championship contender Kenny Florian. While Diego was making a name for himself in the Octagon, he was also making one outside the cage. Diego was a very intense, spiritual and confident individual, which basically meant that UFC fans either loved or hated Diego's personality, there was no middle ground.

On April 9th 2005, the Ultimate Fighter Finale took place, with Diego Sanchez facing Kenny Florian. The fight was completely one sided and Diego simply took Kenny down, outmuscled him, got the mount and pounded him out, finishing him 2:49 into the first round by TKO. Diego was named the first ever winner of the Ultimate Fighter and with it a six figure contract with the UFC. The fight is often overlooked due to the excellence of the other final matchup which had Stehpen Bonnar and Forrest Griffin fighting in a classic battle that helped put the UFC on the map.

Following his crowning of the ultimate champion, Diego would drop down in weight to welterweight and fight Brain Gassaway at UFC 54, ending the fight early in the second round via TKO due to strikes.

After this fight, Diego would get raise in competition by facing off against Nick Diaz at the Ultimate Fighter 2 finale. There was a lot of bad blood in this fight, as the two exchanged heated emails. Diaz felt that Diego had an easier path due to competing on the reality show. Before the fight in the locker room Diaz would taunt Diego and even throw a shoe at him. Diego said that all these actions actually helped him as they caused him to train harder then he ever had before. In what was a back and forth fight that went the distance, Diego earned a unanimous decision victory gaining credibility by beating a name opponent and moving his record to 14-0.

After another decision victory over John Alessio at UFC 60, Diego again would test himself against a top name in the division, this time against once title contender Karo Parisyan at UFC Fight Night 6. This fight was a classic, and was a potential fight of the year, that truly had everything from grappling to standup. While Diego may have lost the fight round, his superior conditioning enabled him to stay strong in the fight, and soon begin to out power Parisyan. In one of the nicest visuals that the UFC still uses today, while in a body clinch with Karo, Diego is able to catch Karo with a knee to the chin. The knee caused one of Karo's crowns in his teeth to come flying out of his mouth. In real time you can actually see Diego hit the knee and the tooth go flying across the octagon. Karo began to falter in the later rounds, and this enabled Diego to pick up a unanimous decision victory.

At Fight Night 7 Diego again faced off against a former title contender in Joe Riggs, and made short work of Riggs finishing him off with a running knee after rocking him with a right hand in the first round. Following the fight Sanchez was suspended by the UFC for violating the drug policy as an agent of marijuana was found in this system.

After serving his three month suspension, Diego would face Josh Koscheck in an official bout at UFC 69. Diego was able to defeat Josh by decision on the Ultimate Fighter show, but those fights are all fought as exhibitions. A war of words erupted between the two fighters and at the weigh-ins Diego pushed Josh during their stare down, almost causing him to fall off the stage. The fight was thought to be a fast paced, aggressive fight, but was slow with very little action, with Josh earning a unanimous decision, but surprisingly out striking Diego.



Following the fight it was revealed that Diego was sick, and almost forced to retire form the sport due to a positive hepatitis C test. The test was found to be a false positive, and Diego was allowed to compete, with the cause of his illness remaining unknown. After the fight it was determined that Diego had a severe staph infection, and it was reported that after the fight Diego had a hole the size of a coffee cup in this thigh.

After the loss to Koscheck, Diego would face another wrestler and teammate of Josh in Jon Fitch. In what was a more exciting fight, Jon would edge out Diego winning by split decision to hand Diego his second loss of his career and his first back to back losses.

Following the losses Diego got back on the winning track by defeating both David Bielkheden and Luigi Fioravanti both by strikes. Following these two victories Diego decided that he would move down in weight to lightweight, due to the fact that he was undersized and out powered in many of his fights at welterweight.

He had his lightweight debut at UFC 95 against former title contender and Ultimate Fighter 2 winner Joe Stevenson. In a back and forth battle that won fight of the night honors, Diego was able to out strike Joe and earn a unanimous decision victory. While it was a great fight, most were surprised that Diego was not more aggressive and did not try to take the fight to the ground or out muscle Joe.

Diego's next fight will be at the Ultimate Fighter Finale this Saturday against a man who is on a three fight winning streak in Clay Guida. What makes this fight interesting is that one of Diego's strengths is that he utilizes his superior conditioning and keeps a fast pace, which seems to wear opponents out. Guida utilizes the same tactics to win fights by keeping a fast pace and wearing them down. It will be interesting to see the pace of this fight and if either of these fighters will tire. When looking at the matchup, Diego should have the striking advantage and will most likely use that to get the victory.

Diego has had a historic road to the UFC as he was crowned the first ever Ultimate Fighter and was on a tear in the UFC when he first arrived. He has since suffered back to back losses to strong wrestlers in Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch, but after moving weight seems to have revitalized himself, and has regained his killer instinct. He has amassed a MMA record of 20-2, is a black belt in Gaidojutsu, and a purple belt in Brazillian jiu jitsu. Diego will continue to increase his MMA Legacy, as he climbs the ladder at lightweight. With his aggression as well as his power, cardio, wrestling and submissions Diego is a dangerous opponent for anyone and will likely soon get a shot at the title.

UFC 99: COMEBACK Thoughts

Dan Hardy vs. Marcus Davies
This was a very entertaining fight, which had lots of action on the feet and surprisingly on the ground. Dan Hardy did by far the most damage in this fight, knocking Davies down with a knee in the second round. Although Davies did get the takedowns, he did little damage when he was in control. In the end Hardy won the split decision victory and Davies left the Octagon angry with the decision.

Caol Uno vs. Spencer Fisher
This was a chess match in any sense of the word, in that Uno kept going for the takedown and Fisher would sprawl, scramble and they would end up clinching. While Spencer landed the better strikes, he never really did any damage, while Uno was able to more or less control where the fight took place with the takedowns. I really feel that Uno should have earned the decision here, especially as he came closer then Fisher to ending the fight at the end of the third round by getting the mount and pounding on Fisher until the bell. Perhaps if Uno had another minute he could have ended the fight, but the judges saw the fight differently and gave the victory to Fisher. One thing is for sure in that Uno has some of the best shot takedowns in the business.

Mike Swick vs. Ben Saunders
This one took awhile to get going, with the only notable action in the first round being the trash talk between the fighters while they were on the ground. Once Swick found his range in the second round, he was able to quickly put Saunders away with his fists.

Mirko Cro Cop vs.Mostapha Al-Turk
While Cro Cop didn't quite kick his head off and finished the fight more by eye poke, it did seem that the old Mirko Cro Cop did in fact show up for this fight, with improved striking and takedown defense. Regardless of the eye poke, Cro Cop was starting to open up on Al-Turk and had him hurt before that. Hopefully Cro Cop is able to keep is focus and get and continue to fight in the UFC (which apparently isn't the case, and Cro Cop basically gave a big FU to Dana White and the UFC, more on that in the news section).

Cheick Congo vs. Cain Velasquez
Every round in this fight was basically identical. In the opening 30 seconds, on the feet Kongo would rock Cain, actually dropping him twice, then Cain would get the take down and basically pound on Kongo to end the round. For me this actually hurt Cain more then help him, as he showed that his striking is not as good as once thought as every time Kongo had any opportunity he rocked him, and once on the ground he was unable to finish even though he had Kongo mounted the entire time, but could not pound him out. Joe Rogan said it best that this questioned Cain's power, as he did land a ton of strikes on the ground but Kongo basically shrugged them off. You have to wonder about the head of Kongo, in that when he did finally get to his feet, he decided to clinch with Cain and actually attempt takedowns of his own, which backfired every time and allowed Cain to reverse him. Kongo should have separated and continued his striking. For Kongo this showed his heart, his difficulty to be finished, his lack of takedown defense, and his horrible ground game from the bottom. If Kongo can get his ground game and takedown defense up to par, he can be a threat otherwise the top fighters in the division are all ground based (Carwin, Lesnar, Mir) and will exploit and easily defeat him.

Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva
What a great fight between these two warriors. This was hard to score, and the unanimous decision was somewhat surprising. While Franklin was the more technical and landed more strikes, Wanderlei landed more of the power shots and was more aggressive. It seems due to Wanderlei's style where he takes shots to look for that power punch, that if the fight ever goes to a decision he is on the losing end. It did appear that the cut in weight did hurt his cardio, so it should be interesting how he does in his next fight at 185lbs.The end of the third round really summed up this fight perfectly with Wanderlei throwing back elbows with Franklin throwing punches until the bell. I think the future is bright for both of these fighters with Silva at 185 and Franklin at 205.

At the end of a night it was an entertaining card, which answered some questions, but raised some different ones especially with respect to Cain Velasquez.

Various News

Mirko Cro Cop already done with UFC
Following his victory over Al-Turk at UFC 99, it is being reported that Mirko Crop Cop has accepted a three fight deal with DREAM. While Cro Cop was only signed for 1 fight with the UFC, apparently Dana White and Cro Cop had verbally agreed to two more fights, but had yet to work out the details. Dana had the following to say about the situation "Isn't that a dirty [expletive] thing to do? He [expletived] me. The first time in the history of the company I do one over the phone. He promised me a three-fight deal and he [expletived] me.""

I have to agree with Dana, in that Mirko screwed him, and this causes me to lose some respect for the guy. It was the first time in the history of the company that Dana White has given a one fight deal, and this just shows why they don't usually give one fight deals. The UFC learned a hard lesson, in that they wanted to use Cro Cop in Germany for publicity, and they settled for the one fight deal with the verbal agreement for more which they would work out after the event. Never trust people at their word.

Tim Sylvia knocked out by Ray Mercer in 10 seconds
So this fight was originally a boxing match, which due to the athletic commission overseeing the fight needed to be changed to a MMA bout. Apparently they still had a gentlemen's agreement to not use any kicks, but right off the bell Sylvia attempted a kick, so I guess he comes from the same gentlemen's club as Mirko Cro Cop. After the kick, Mercer landed a straight right that knocked Sylvia out cold. The video is below and Sylvia looks like a tree falling in slow motion. What is even worse for big Tim is that Mercer is 46 years old and that this was his first professional MMA fight (he competed in an exhibition bout, losing to Kimbo Slice by submission).



This is a perfect example of why the UFC will not allow Anderson Silva to box Roy Jones. Who knows what would happen but it would be horrible for the UFC if their current champion got knocked out in 10 seconds to a boxer. Before the fight Sylvia stated that he would like to end his career in the UFC. Well judging from his last two performances he has a lot of work to do to get back there. I have never really been a fan of Tim, and maybe when he was champion in the UFC it was more a product of limited competition (especially since his wins over Arolvski have gone down in value due to Arlovski being exposed as having a chin made of fine china.)

That does it for another week. With UFC 100 slowly approaching, we will begin the build by looking at the Legacy of the major stars on the card starting next week with interim heavyweight champion Frank Mir.