Fighter Profile: Diego Sanchez

Overall Record: 22-4

UFC Record: 9-3

Hometown: Albuquerque, NM

Height: 5’10”

Age: 27

Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez is a mixed martial artist fighter that specializes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai and wrestling. He was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He trained in Albuquerque under Greg Jackson for a number of years before moving to San Diego, California to start his new team. Diego now trains under the name University of Jiu-Jitsu with jiu-jitsu trainer Alexandre Ribeiro and his head boxing trainer Joey Gilbert.

Diego began his MMA career in 2002 fighting for the Ring of Fire organization. He moved on to fight for King of the Cage, Aztec Challenge and other independent organizations. He ran his record to 10-0 before appearing on the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

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While on “The Ultimate Fighter,” Sanchez breezed through the middleweight competition to entire way to the championship against Kenny Florian. At the finale, Sanchez used his ground and pound to stop Florian and earn the six figure contract for the UFC.

After the Florian fight, Sanchez moved down a division to the welterweight division. While in the welterweight division, Sanchez picked up notable wins over the likes of Nick Diaz (Unanimous Decision win at TUF 2 finale), Karo Parisyan (Unanimous Decision win at UFC Fight Night 6) and Joe Riggs at a December 2006 Fight Night event.

He had a smooth run through the welterweight division until losing back-to-back fights to Josh Koscheck at UFC 69 and Jon Fitch at UFC 76. After two loses against two of the top welterweights in the UFC, he did pick up two more wins in the division but began to re-evaluate his position. “Nightmare” decided on another move, and this time down to the lightweight division.

Diego is now set to use his experience, size and strength in order to make a run at the lightweight title. He will try and use his signature flying left knee (win over Riggs) to stun the opponents in his new division. He is making his lightweight debut against former number one contender Joe Stevenson at UFC 95.

Recent Diego Sanchez MMA News:

• Defeated Clay Guida by Split Decision at The Ultimate Fighter 9 finale on June 20, 2009 - TUF 9 finale results

• Lost to BJ Penn by TKO at UFC 107 on December 12, 2009 - UFC 107 results

• Lost to John Hathaway by Unanimous Decision at UFC 114 on May 29, 2010 in Las Vegas, NV - UFC 114 results

By Nick Russell
ProFighting-fans.com Staff Writer
Published February 2009, record updated February 22, 2009

Photo courtesy of UFC