Tag: Diego Sanchez

Diego Sanchez Signs New Multi-Fight Contract with the UFC

Diego Sanchez is coming off one of his most memorable performances to date, and it looks like the UFC plans on keeping him around for quite a while.
“The Dream” is fresh off his epic battle with former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez …

Diego Sanchez is coming off one of his most memorable performances to date, and it looks like the UFC plans on keeping him around for quite a while.

“The Dream” is fresh off his epic battle with former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez at UFC 166 in October. The two Mexican-American fighters engaged in a 15-minute war, where both put everything they had on the line in a fight that is easily one of the top candidates for “Fight of the Year” honors. 

While “El Nino” took the unanimous-decision victory, Sanchez had nothing to hang his head about after the fight. UFC president Dana White flooded The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 winner with praise in the aftermath of the tilt, as Sanchez once again put his unique brand of grit and determination on display in Houston.

Immediately following his fight with the Skrap Pack leader, the New Mexico native went on the offensive, calling out fighters on Twitter and engaging in an action-packed tiff on social media with upstart featherweight Conor McGregor. While no opponent has been named for Sanchez’s next showing inside the Octagon, a new contract from the UFC guarantees he’ll have plenty of time to settle a few of his grudges.

As announced on Wednesday’s edition of UFC Tonight, the 31-year-old Jackson’s MMA-trained fighter has signed a new multi-fight contract with the organization. In addition to the news of his new deal with the promotion, it was also announced that he is aiming to make his return at UFC 171 when the UFC touches down in Dallas on March 15.

While Sanchez has been trading barbs with the brash Irishman, several obstacles in their respective paths will make that scrap unlikely for the former title contender’s next outing. In addition to competing in a different weight class, McGregor is coming off knee surgery and has no set return date. He is also a shoo-in for when the UFC makes its debut in Dublin next year, and that would all but eliminate Sanchez from the equation.

One fight he’s asked for that may come to fruition is a bout with former title contender Nate Diaz. Sanchez defeated his older brother Nick at The Ultimate Fighter 2 finale back in 2005 and has said he wants to be the first man to defeat both Diaz brothers in the UFC. With the Stockton representative coming off a big win over Gray Maynard last month at The Ultimate Fighter 18 finale, he could very well be in a position to face the gritty veteran.

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Conor McGregor Agrees to Fight Diego Sanchez at Welterweight

UFC featherweight Conor McGregor and lightweight Diego Sanchez are getting close to talking themselves into a fight after agreeing to face each other at welterweight.
The latest steps were taken on Twitter, where the pair have been engaged in a Twitter…

UFC featherweight Conor McGregor and lightweight Diego Sanchez are getting close to talking themselves into a fight after agreeing to face each other at welterweight.

The latest steps were taken on Twitter, where the pair have been engaged in a Twitter war since August. In the latest exchange, Sanchez threw out a challenge to fight McGregor in Dublin at 170 pounds.

The beef between the two fighters started in August when the loud-mouthed Irishman called out practically the entire featherweight division in a tweet. Sanchez took umbrage on behalf of his friend and training partner, featherweight Diego Brandao, who’s being talked off as a future opponent for McGregor.

McGregor, who has a 14-2 record and is 2-0 in the UFC, has courted a lot of attention since joining the promotion, and Sanchez is one of many who believe the featherweight is overhyped.

Since then, McGregor and Sanchez have been taking shots at each other and are already close to agreeing to terms—over Twitter.

That might not give Sanchez, who’s known to take inordinate punishment in his fights, time to recover and fight McGregor in Ireland, where the UFC plans to visit next year.

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TUF 18 Finale: Diego Sanchez Wants Winner of Nate Diaz vs. Gray Maynard III

Former UFC lightweight title challenger Diego Sanchez is ready to make another run at the belt and he’d like to start with the winner of Nate Diaz vs. Gray Maynard III. 
The bout headlines the finale of season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter …

Former UFC lightweight title challenger Diego Sanchez is ready to make another run at the belt and he’d like to start with the winner of Nate Diaz vs. Gray Maynard III. 

The bout headlines the finale of season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter this Saturday and “The Dream” believes Maynard will be who settles the feud once and for all. 

His latest tweet from Tuesday afternoon is pretty interesting, considering just one month ago he was calling for a five-round scrap with a certain outspoken Stockton, California native.

Sanchez last competed at UFC 166 on October 19, putting together a 15-minute instant classic with former Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez. 

The bout was an easy choice for the pay-per-view event’s “Fight of the Night” bonus and is on the short list for 2013’s “Fight of the Year.”

While the Greg Jackson’s MMA product is just 3-4 in his past seven bouts, he is 3-2 overall at 155 pounds with his losses coming to top-tier competition in Melendez and BJ Penn, fighting the latter for the title at UFC 107 in December 2009. 

Meanwhile, Diaz and Maynard both could desperately use a win this weekend, as Diaz is on a two-fight losing streak while “The Bully” has compiled a 1-2-1 mark in his past four matchups. 

Would Sanchez vs. Diaz or Sanchez vs. Maynard be a decent matchmaking play by the UFC after Saturday night?

 

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.

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Gilbert Melendez: Rematch with ‘Delusional’ Diego Sanchez Would Be ‘Easy Money’

UPDATE 11:28 A.M. Eastern Time
It didn’t take long for Sanchez to respond to Melendez, and to say he’s confident he would win a rematch is an understatement. 

@mmamania @ufc @GilbertMelendez @danawhite ill be more than happy to knock your ass out…

UPDATE 11:28 A.M. Eastern Time

It didn’t take long for Sanchez to respond to Melendez, and to say he’s confident he would win a rematch is an understatement. 

—End of Update— 

Former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez is one of the most talented, as well as exciting, 155-pound fighters in the world, so it makes sense he has his eye on another title bout. 

Of course, members of the media still want to ask El Nino about his action-packed “Fight of the Year” candidate against Diego Sanchez at UFC 166 last month. 

While Melendez was happy to reflect on the action-packed scrap, he seemed at least a little bit annoyed that The Dream said he felt the bout should’ve been scored a draw, per FOX Sports. 

Here’s what Melendez told FIGHT! Magazine (transcription via David St. Martin of MMA Fighting): 

I feel like he got hit a lot. If he’s saying it was a draw I think he’s a little delusional. You gotta say what you gotta say when you lose to keep yourself in the right mentality and feel like you’re still relevant, to campaign for yourself. I could have went two more rounds. I felt like I was on to something. He’s the guy that fires away and gets tired and I start attacking. They got a lot of timeouts for him. They weren’t going to stop it in the third round, there was no reason to call timeouts. I could go on and say how I feel but I’m just happy I won. I think [Sanchez] is a little silly for saying that but he’s a weird guy. Sometimes he’s complimenting and sometimes he’s disrespectful and I don’t think he even knows it … I think [the rematch] is something they do want to see. They’re talking ‘World War, lets do it in Mexico City.’ To be honest, that’s easy money. That was good for me. If he thinks it was competitive I’ll be more than happy to bust him up again.

While Sanchez did control the brief bit of action when the fight hit the ground, as well as dropping his opponent with an uppercut in the third round, Melendez proved to be a far superior striker when the bout was contested on the feet. 

Melendez won the bout via unanimous decision, with one judge scoring the bout 30-27 and the other two judges giving Sanchez the final frame, scoring it 29-28 in favor of Melendez. 

With the victory, Melendez has had his hand raised in eight of his past nine matchups, with his only loss coming against then-champ Benson Henderson at UFC on FOX 7 in April—a bout many pundits felt the Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu fighter had won. 

As he awaits the result of Anthony Pettis, the new UFC lightweight champion, vs. Josh Thomson—an old rival of Melendez—at UFC on FOX 9 in December, the Mexican-American competitor will likely have to defeat a top contender to earn another shot at championship gold. 

In the same interview, he lists TJ Grant or Khabib Nurmagomedov as two opponents he would like to fight next. 

Sanchez also anxiously awaits his next fight booking, though he has recently gotten involved in a war of words with ex-teammate Melvin Guillard and featherweight prospect Conor McGregor. 

Should fate have it that Sanchez and Melendez meet again in 2014, would the gutsy winner of the original Ultimate Fighter stand a chance at pulling off an upset the second time around?

 

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.

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Diego Sanchez Flips out on Melvin Guillard and Conor McGregor

Former UFC lightweight title challenger Diego Sanchez has never been one for subtlety in or out of the cage, so it shouldn’t be too astonishing to hear he went on a verbal tirade on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour. 
First, “The Dream” went off o…

Former UFC lightweight title challenger Diego Sanchez has never been one for subtlety in or out of the cage, so it shouldn’t be too astonishing to hear he went on a verbal tirade on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour. 

First, “The Dream” went off on former Jackson’s MMA training partner Melvin Guillard, who recently said he used to drop Sanchez in training “all in time,” per MMA Junkie. 

“I was cool with Melvin Guillard until he said that,” Sanchez said. “Maybe he was upset because whenever we fought in training camp, here’s the thing with Melvin. The guy’s an awesome athlete. He’s really explosive, he’s really fast. But the dude’s got a questionable chin. I’ve seen everyone in the gym drop him. I’ve dropped him two times with a straight left. And that’s the truth. The guy’s got a questionable chin. Joe Stevenson dropped him with a jab. Joe Lauzon dropped him with a jab. He doesn’t have an iron chin like me. For him to say he dropped me all the time, it’s a bunch of bulls—.”

Sanchez called out “The Young Assassin” on Twitter over his comments, which Guillard claimed he never said, even though he was caught on video, per Bloody Elbow.  

Shortly after the appearance on The MMA Hour, it appeared that Sanchez and Guillard had patched things up. 

@DiegoSanchezUFC@nickursomma@JacksonsMMA@IKEVF you will always be fam in my eye’s bro. Bros for life this is a sport that’s all

— Melvin Guillard (@Young__Assassin) October 28, 2013

Sanchez and Conor McGregor have been talking smack to each other on and off for weeks, starting ever since “The Notorious” posted this tweet calling out the who’s who of the UFC featherweight division. 

One of the original winners of The Ultimate Fighter, Sanchez is obviously not amused with McGregor‘s antics. 

“He’s got the big mouth,” Sanchez replied. “This all started when he put out a tweet that was disrespecting all the top 145ers in the world. And I was just, this is ridiculous. No one’s going to talk back to him? You know, somebody has to put the dude in his place because he has a real mouth. The crazy thing about it is he really believes his own hype. I put out a tweet, notable victories. Who are they? Who are you notable victories? Who are your notable fights? Who are these guys who beat you? You have losses on your record and you act like you’re the Muhammad Ali of Ireland. You have losses on your record. Who are they? C’mon … You have not proved you can wrestle. You have not proved you are legitimate on the ground. What are you going to do when you have Diego Sanchez on top of you ground and pounding you? You have not proved that you are equivalent to that situation. It’s a bunch of crap.”

Sanchez and the rest of the fight world will have to wait a while before they see McGregor square off against a top contender, since he suffered a torn ACL in his latest victory over Max Holloway at UFC Fight Night 26 in August. 

While it may not be likely, a grudge match between McGregor and the gutsy Mexican-American brawler is possible since Conor has fought at 155 pounds before. 

Additionally, Sanchez awaits a fight booking after a thrilling “Fight of the Year” candidate against ex-Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez at UFC 166 10 days ago. 

 

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.

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Diego Sanchez, Melvin Guillard Dispute Media Report About Past Sparring Sessions

Former MMA teammates under Greg Jackson, Diego Sanchez and Melvin Guillard, both have a bone to pick with a recent media report where “The Young Assassin” was asked his opinion on the recent thriller between Sanchez and Gilbert Melendez at UFC 166…

Former MMA teammates under Greg Jackson, Diego Sanchez and Melvin Guillard, both have a bone to pick with a recent media report where “The Young Assassin” was asked his opinion on the recent thriller between Sanchez and Gilbert Melendez at UFC 166. 

Speaking to MMA Junkie, Guillard apparently made a bold statement regarding the front-running “Fight of the Year” candidate and his old friend: 

“I would have dropped either one of them,” Guillard is quoted in the report. “I used to drop Diego Sanchez in practice all the time. When I hit people, I hurt people. That’s just what I do.”

This reporter/fan was intrigued by the statement, so I thought I’d tweet at “The Dream” for his side of the story. The over 11-year fight veteran was not amused by his ex-training partner’s alleged comment.

At a glance, it looked like a new feud was brewing in the UFC’s highly competitive lightweight division. However, Guillard responded early this morning stating he was misquoted in the interview in question. 

Guillard, who is just 2-4 in his past six bouts, has a chance to re-enter the 155-pound division’s top 15 with a decisive win over fellow slugger Ross Pearson this Saturday.

Meanwhile, Sanchez is 3-2 in his past 5 matchups inside the cage, the same record he’s compiled at lightweight, and has already expressed interest in a five-round fight with former UFC title challenger Nate Diaz.  

MMA Junkie did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on the situation, though the story will be updated if a response is given at any point.  

UPDATE: 1:56 P.M. Eastern Time

MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn, a co-author on the original story, said in an e-mail that the quotes were obtained from a pre-UFC Fight Night 30 media scrum, providing an audio clip to back up his claim. 

The audio clip, which was provided to Bleacher Report, accurately reflects what Guillard was quoted as saying in MMA Junkie’s piece about Guillard.  

 

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.

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