Diego J. Sanchez (born December 31, 1981) is an American mixed martial artist (MMA) with a background in wrestling and Gaidojutsu, system of submission wrestling developed by his longtime trainer Greg Jackson Sanchez was the winner of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter reality series and currently fights as a welterweight with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). From 2007-2009, he lived in San Diego where he trained at The Arena MMA gym and the University of Jiu Jitsu with Saulo Ribeiro. In 2010, Sanchez moved back to New Mexico prior to his fight with John Hathaway. He now trains at Greg Jacksons MMA again.
2 Mixed martial arts career
2.1 Move to Lightweight
2.2 Return to Welterweight
3 Personal life
4 Championships and awards
4.1 Mixed martial arts
4.2 Submission grappling
4.3 Amateur wrestling
5 Mixed martial arts record
6 References
7 External links
Sanchez was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He attended Del Norte High School, where hebecame a state champion wrestlercitation needed
Diego Sanchez wrestled in New Mexico before starting training MMA while working for UPS. Sanchez eventually joined Jackson's Submission Fighting, still while working for UPS, managing the time between work and training. In 2002, he made his MMA debut for King of the Cage where he also later became a champion
His UFC debut came when he was chosen as a participant on 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 winning a fight against Kenny Florian, 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". 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 on December 13, 2006 at UFC Fight Night 7. Sanchez landed a right hook that knocked 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.
Diego Sanchez
Diego Sanchez
Diego Sanchez
Diego Sanchez
Diego Sanchez
Diego Sanchez
Diego Sanchez
Diego Sanchez
Diego Sanchez
Diego Sanchez
Diego Sanchez
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