Diego Sanchez

Diego Sanchez (born December 31, 1981) is an American professional mixed martial artist who currently competes on the Super Lightweight division of Eagle Fighting Championship.

Sanchez was born to a Mexican American family on December 31, 1981.

He was raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he still resides.

Albuquerque is also the location of his training camp.

Sanchez was a high school state champion in wrestling as a senior before he started training mixed martial arts while working for UPS.

Sanchez eventually joined Jackson's Submission Fighting, still while working for UPS, managing the time between work and training.

A professional competitor since 2002, Sanchez is most known for his time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he won the Middleweight tournament of The Ultimate Fighter 1.

He has also formerly competed for King of the Cage, where he was the Welterweight Champion.

Sanchez has been involved in more "Fight of the Year" bouts than any other fighter in mixed martial arts; his first was against Karo Parisyan at UFC Fight Night 6, and then again against Clay Guida at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale (which culminated into a title shot against then-UFC Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn, where the two headlined UFC 107), and finally against Gilbert Melendez at UFC 166.

Sanchez is one of two fighters to have competed in four different weight classes in the UFC: Middleweight, Welterweight, Lightweight, and Featherweight; the other being Kenny Florian.

Sanchez made his MMA debut in 2002 in the promotion Ring of Fire, despite having injured his heel the night before.

Sanchez mostly went for takedowns, while his opponent, who was a more developed striker, bloodied the young Sanchez.

However, Sanchez continued to use his wrestling expertise, landed another takedown in the second round, taking his opponent's back, then sinking in a rear-naked choke, causing his opponent to tap.

This made Sanchez the winner by submission, who then earned $600 for the bout.

He then went on to compile an undefeated 11-0 record before becoming a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter.

Sanchez was chosen as a participant in 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 defeating fellow finalist Kenny Florian via TKO, 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 made his post-TUF debut defeating journeyman Brian Gassaway by submission due to strikes at UFC 54 on August 20, 2005.

Sanchez next defeated Nick Diaz via unanimous decision at The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale on November 5, 2005.

Sanchez won a unanimous decision over John Alessio on May 27, 2006, at UFC 60.

Sanchez continued his undefeated streak with a unanimous decision victory over judo specialist Karo Parisyan at UFC Fight Night 6 on August 17, 2006.

This fight earned him the Fight of the Night award.

Sanchez faced Joe Riggs on December 13, 2006, in the main event of UFC Fight Night 7.

Sanchez landed a right hook that knocked Riggs down, followed by a running knee that knocked Riggs out at 1:45 of the first round.

Sanchez subsequently tested positive for the agents found in marijuana and was sentenced to a three-month suspension.

Sanchez was then cleared to fight Josh Koscheck at UFC 69.

At the weigh-ins for the event, Sanchez shoved Koscheck while they stared each other down.

Sanchez ended up losing a unanimous decision to Koscheck, ending his undefeated run, in a fight that was virtually all stand up.

Koscheck managed to keep Sanchez at bay with superior hand speed and footwork until the bout timed out, to take the win 30–27 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 bout, Sanchez lost his second straight fight by split decision to Jon Fitch at UFC 76 on September 22, 2007, before rebounding against David Bielkheden at UFC 82 with a submission win in the first round due to strikes.

Following the win, Sanchez stopped 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.

He made his lightweight debut in his next fight on February 21, 2009, at UFC 95 against Joe Stevenson.

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.