Diego SanchezThe Nightmare
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Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on December 31, 1981, Diego "The Nightmare" Sanchez has a background in wrestling and Gaidojutsu - a system of submission wrestling developed by Greg Jackson. He was the winner The Ultimate Fighter TV show which earned him a UFC contract. Diego was introduced to martial arts as a young boy at age 9 and also took up wrestling in the 6th grade. He won the state wrestling 152-pound championship in his senior year at Del Norte High School. Less than a year later, he began his training in mixed martial arts at Greg Jackson's Gaidojutsu. A street fight in his home town against a football player that outweighed him by nearly seventy pounds is what brought "The Nightmatre" to MMA. The victory made him believe that this is what he was meant to do. Two years later he had his first professional match. Diego Sanchez debuted in ROF 5 on June 21, 2002 with a submission win against Michael Johnson via rear naked choke. The Nightmare kept the string of victories coming all the way up to his first official UFC match on April 09, 2005 where he was victorious against fellow Ultimater Fighter participant, Kenny Florian. Diego won with a barrage of strikes on his helpless foe. The winning ways continued for the New Mexico native at UFC 54 where he submitted Brian Gassaway. But, his biggest test was before him. Nick Diaz, a tough competitor with a tremendous amount of UFC experience would prove to be the young fighter's toughest challenge yet. A lot of trash talking preceded the Ultimate Fighting Championship bout at Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. The pressure was on. Sanchez responded admirably and defeated the veteran via unanimous decision after controlling him for most of their bout at the UFC TUF 2 Finale card. John Alessio was the next in line to learn that Sanchez is more than just some kid who won a TV show contest. Diego racked up another unanimous decision at UFC 60 in May of 2006.
“I’m young and I look forward to rising up the rankings and continuing to learn as a fighter,” says Sanchez. “I’m still learning a lot and every fight I’m getting better. I’m doing things so different now. My health is better than ever, my recovery time is better than ever, I’m smarter, and when it’s my time, I really want it to be my time. I want to be champ for a long time. That’s why I want to wait as long as I possibly can. With the rise of mixed martial arts, I believe it’s coming to an all-time high and it’s only gonna grow and the money’s only gonna get better, so of course, I want to wait until it’s my time to make the money that (Randy) Couture and (Chuck) Liddell are making now. That’s my plan, if I can have my way. But I’m paying my dues now.” Diego Sanchez MMA Record
05/27/2006: Win / John Alessio / UFC 60 / Decision (unanimous)
Ray Mardo is a former freestyle wrestler. The Austin Film Festival honored writer now spends his days as the webmaster of several websites about ultimate fighting championship and mixed martial arts, extreme championship wrestling, world championship wrestling, who is the coolest guy on the planet, and DJ training. Diego Sanchez Official Site |