Diego Sanchez

Diego Sanchez Signs New 8-Fight Deal With UFC

Lightweight contender Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez has signed a new eight-fight contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The first bout on Sanchez’s new deal will come December 12 in Memphis, Tennessee when he vies for the UFC lightweight title in a battle with current champion B.J. “The Prodigy” Penn.

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Report: Penn to Meet Sanchez at UFC 105

B.J. Penn will reportedly defend his UFC lightweight title against “Ultimate Fighter” winner Diego Sanchez in a bout that will likely headline UFC 105, which is slated to take place on November 14 in Manchester, England.

The news comes from UK-based Fighters Only Magazine, which reports that Sanchez has been offered the title shot but nothing is official at the moment. Both Penn and Sanchez expressed interest in facing each other in recent weeks.

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The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale Live Results

We will be going live at 7:00 PM ET with live results of “The Ultimate Fighter: U.S. vs. U.K. Finale”, which takes place at the Pearl at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas. The show’s main card will be televised live in North America starting at 9 PM ET on Spike TV.

The event will be headlined by an anticipated lightweight matchup between Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida. Past “Ultimate Fighter” winners Joe Stevenson and Nate Diaz will also clash on the main card.

Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments throughout the afternoon and evening. Detailed live results are after the jump.

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Fight of the Day: Diego Sanchez vs. Rene Kronvold

From King of the Cage 24: “Mayhem” in June 2003, here’s UFC lightweight contender and “Ultimate Fighter” alumnus Diego Sanchez taking on Rene Kronvold.

Sanchez-Guida Announced for “TUF 9” Finale

A much-anticipated lightweight bout between one-time “Ultimate Fighter” winner Diego Sanchez and scrappy fan-favorite Clay Guida will headline “The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale”, which will take place on June 20 at the Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.

“Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida has the potential to be one of the most action packed fights of the year,” UFC President Dana White said today in a press release. “Both men have won multiple “Fight of the Night “awards and are two of the most aggressive grapplers in the division. Guida is coming off a big win over Nate Diaz and Sanchez just defeated Joe Stevenson. The winner of this fight will move into the upper portion of the lightweight rankings and get that much closer to a title shot.”

After spending the majority of his UFC career in the welterweight division, Sanchez opted to drop down to lightweight and picked his first win in his new weight class at UFC 95 in February, winning a unanimous decision over former title challenger Joe Stevenson.

Consecutive fights against tough competition had Guida struggle at the start of his tenure in the UFC, but “The Carpenter” has now reeled off three straight victories, including consecutive decision wins over “Ultimate Fighter” winners Nate Diaz and Mac Danzig.

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The Case for Diego Sanchez at UFC 95

Coming into a fight between two well-round fighters like Diego Sanchez and Joe Stevenson, it’s hard to pick a winner right off the bat. Often times, we look to the factors outside of the fight. In this case, it’s the fact that Saturday’s bout will be Sanchez’s first at lightweight and that Stevenson has lost two out of his last three fights and hasn’t looked good at all in defeat.

So what about the fight itself? Luke Thomas says that Stevenson’s past should give us something to look for:

Sanchez’s legendary tenacity and offensive-opportunistic style is kryptonite against Stevenson, who has shown a propensity to be overwhelmed by adept, aggressive grapplers. Grapplers with what I call “transition and position emphasis” that can also use balance, base, posture and submission defense to unload ground and pound also give Stevenson trouble. There’s little doubt Stevenson is an excellent submission wrestler, but his willingness to play defense too long in the face of heavy storms has been - and likely will be this weekend - his undoing.

Luke is right. Stevenson folded under the pressure that B.J. Penn and Kenny Florian brought upon him and the same thing happened when he lost to Josh Neer in his first UFC fight after winning “TUF”. Unless Diego makes a mistake and Stevenson is able to catch him in a quick submission, I just don’t see him winning this fight.

Video Preview: Sanchez vs Stevenson

Above is a video preview of the upcoming lightweight showdown between Diego Sanchez and former UFC lightweight title challenger Joe Stevenson at UFC 95, which takes place this Saturday at the O2 Arena in London, England.

Sanchez Believes Stevenson Hasn’t “Evolved”

In the above video courtesy of ESPN, Diego Sanchez discusses his upcoming lightweight bout against Joe Stevenson, which will take place at UFC 95 this Saturday in London, England.

Drop to Lightweight Not Permanent for Sanchez

After months and months of rumors concerning his eventual drop to lightweight, Sanchez finally made the move to fight at a lower weight late last year after signing to fight Joe Stevenson in the main event of UFC 95 on February 21.

Despite the transition seeming practical due to his size, Sanchez recently told MMA Weekly’s “Sound Off” radio show that the move is only temporary:

Always known for his tremendous strength and cardio conditioning, Sanchez will not accept a loss in either of those categories for his move to lightweight, which may not last as long as some people may have expected.

“I definitely am going to go back to welterweight. Maybe a year, year and a half at this weight, we’ll see,” he said in the interview. “It’s all about the business and the right fights, whatever are the best fights for the UFC. I’m here to put the best fights on for the fans and the UFC, and be the best fighter out there that I can be for you guys.”

It was shown in Sanchez’s losses to Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck at welterweight that his ground-and-pound style isn’t very effective at 170 lbs, but could very well be at 155 lbs, which seems like a more natural weight for him to be fighting at. If he is going to move back to welterweight in the future, it would be wise for him to do so after the title contenders picture isn’t so wide open.

Sanchez vs. Stevenson to Headline UFC 95 in England

Diego Sanchez’s move to the lightweight division has been made official. The former middleweight winner of the inaugural season of “The Ultimate Fighter” will take on another winner of the reality show, Joe Stevenson in a bout that will headline the UFC’s return to England for UFC 95 on February 21.

UFC President Dana White confirmed the matchup at the post-fight press conference for UFC 92 early Sunday morning.

After defeating Kenny Florian at The Ultimate Fighter Finale in April 2005, Sanchez moved down to the welterweight division where he racked up a 7-2 record, including a five-fight winning streak that saw Sanchez win a decision over Karo Parisyan and score a knockout of Joe Riggs.

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