Diego Sanchez
MMA career
Sanchez made his MMA debut in 2002 and fought in smaller shows, mostly the King of the Cage promotion. His UFC debut came when he was chosen as a participant on the first season of the reality show, The Ultimate Fighter. 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. 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 as a staph infection.
In his most recent bout, Sanchez defeated Luigi Fioravanti via TKO due to strikes at 4:07 of round 3 at The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale. Sanchez will next fight welterweight contender Thiago Alves at UFC 90.
Personal life
Diego was engaged to former UFC ring girl Ali Sonoma the pair separated for a few weeks, but are back together. He also has a son. Diego is also a born-again Christian.MMA record
As of June 2008, Sanchez has compiled a professional record of 19 wins, 2 losses, and 0 Draws. His current UFC record is 8-2.References
External links
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Monday September 29, 2008 at 13:32:15 PDT (GMT -0700)
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