Diego Sanchez

Diego “Nightmare” J. Sanchez is a professional mixed martial arts fighter who fights in the welterweight division of the UFC. His claim to fame is being the middleweight winner during the first season of the Ultimate Fighter reality series. He also had competed in the lightweight and middleweight divisions and is a member of The Arena in San Diego where he continues to train his skills in wrestling, boxing, and Muay Thai.

Sanchez, who is of Mexican-American descent, was born on December 31, 1981 in New Mexico. His first experience in combat sports was during high school when he trained in wrestling. Before he debuted in MMA, he first trained in Jackson’s Submission Fighting under trainer Greg Jackson.

It was in June 2002 when he started his mixed martial arts career. He overpowered the first ten opponents either by submission or TKO. His first win by unanimous decision came in June 2004 when he defeated Jorge Santiago to win the King of the Cage Welterweight Championship.

In his next fight in April 2005, he marked history by becoming the Middleweight Tournament winner of the first season of the Ultimate Fighter reality series after a TKO win against Kenny Florian. Sanchez continued to win his next five UFC matches until 2007, which is the worst year in his career. He competed only twice that year and lost in both fights against Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch, respectively.

After winning his two matches in 2008, he decided to play instead in the lightweight division of the UFC. During the Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale in June 2009, he defeated Clay Guida via a unanimous decision with their fight being declared as Fight of the Night and also as Fight of the Year by the World MMA Awards and Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

In December 2009, he lost via TKO to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist B.J. Penn for the UFC Lightweight Championship. The doctor stopped the game during the fifth round after a large cut on Sanchez’s forehead continued to bleed. His last win was in June 2014 by a controversial split decision against Ross Pearson.

At the beginning of 2015, he had surgery to fix an injury in his collarbone. He then went on to fight under the featherweight division after his absence. However, after just one fight, Sanchez returned to the lightweight division where he faced opponents such as Jim Miller, Joe Lauzon, Marcin Held, and Al Laquinta. He faced Matt Brown in his last fight on November 11, 2017 which ended in a loss in Round 1 via knockout.

Other fighting skills he has been praised for include Gaidojutsu, where he has a black belt, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, where he has a brown belt. Notable accomplishments include being one of the fighters with the most “Fight of the Year” awards.

Sanchez has an MMA record of 40 matches with 29 wins and 11 losses. Majority of these wins were by decision and submissions.