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Diego Sanchez wants to enter the Nate Diaz sweepstakes.
It’s hard to find bigger fan favorites than two of The Ultimate Fighter’s very first winners in Season 1’s Sanchez and Season 5’s Diaz. Despite each having decade-plus long careers in the UFC, they somehow never crossed paths at either lightweight or welterweight.
In 2023, both fighters’ time has passed inside the octagon and boxing appears to be the next move. For Sanchez, his debut is confirmed — it just comes in the bare-knuckle fashion on Feb. 17 against Austin Trout at BKFC: KnuckleMania 3. Should Sanchez get past Trout, he has one clear target in mind.
“Nate won’t fight me because I beat his bigger brother and he idolizes his bigger brother in this weird way,” Sanchez told MMA Junkie. “I’ve been trying to fight Nate for 10 years. If this performance can be so epic and so powerful and dominant — and it will be — I have a chance at snagging that Nate Diaz fight. That’s always the fight I wanted, too, because if I beat Nate, then I’m the first guy to ever beat both Diaz brothers.
“You the real G, Nate? Then take off the gloves, homie. Real Gs don’t wear gloves, homie. Real Gs get down in the street — bone to bone, knuckle to knuckle, and the little b**** ends up buckling.”
Sanchez and Diaz’s older brother Nick met all the way back in Nov. 2005 in what was Sanchez’s third bout in the promotion. The bout was Diaz’s sixth (15th overall) and saw him drop a unanimous decision.
MMA has seemingly been put in the rear-view mirror for Sanchez after a March 2022 unanimous decision defeat to Kevin Lee. Meanwhile, Diaz is currently considered one of the hottest free agents in all of combat sports. Essentially, business is business at the end of the day, and the “Nightmare” predicts his fellow TUF winner to do what’s best for his bank account.
“I’m telling you all right now: Nate is just like everybody else in combat sports,” Sanchez said. “We’re all just trying to get the highest payday we could get. … So he’s got Conor McGregor, Jake Paul and he’s got Floyd Mayweather. He’s got those three fights that could possibly be big, huge paydays for him.”
TOP STORIES
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Insurance. Gilbert Burns says after watching ‘scary’ Damar Hamlin injury that MMA promotions need to provide better healthcare, benefits for fighters
Development. UFC partners with company that flagged suspicious betting activity linked to James Krause scandal
Debut. Greg Hardy books first bare-knuckle fight against Josh Watson at BKFC KnuckleMania 3
VIDEO STEW
Between the Links.
Embedded 4.
UFC 283 Hype.
The Big Nog legacy.
Craig vs. Walker preview.
Shogun’s best fights.
Burns’ greatest hits.
Octagon flashback.
PFL Challenger Series: Heavyweights.
LISTEN UP
DAMN! They Were Good. MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew, Shaheen Al-Shatti, and Guilherme Cruz remember the legendary career of Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua before he makes his final walk.
Heck of a Morning. MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck discusses which MMA promotion Francis Ngannou should sign with.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Soon.
Both sides have agreed. I’ll be back in the cage in April!
— Ricky Simón (@RickySimonUFC) January 20, 2023
Views.
— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) January 20, 2023
“Self-defense”
You can’t condition your brain
Sponsored by: @KILLCLIFF
(Makes your drink hole happy)
10% off code: MCDOJOLIFE#martialarts #selfdefense #boxing #mma #muaythai #McDojoLife pic.twitter.com/y4tOcVeoRc— McDojoLife (@McDojoLife) January 19, 2023
Needs more Venum.
Fake. No Venum uniform. pic.twitter.com/DGCAMckenG
— E. Casey Leydon (@ekc) January 20, 2023
Interesting…
Knowing that a ton of fighters fight injured, so they can claim the injury in the fight to get the insurance. If health insurance was available for the fighters in the UFC, I wonder if Darrick Minner still tries to fight on a compromised knee? #foodforthought
— Eric Nicksick (@Eric_XCMMA) January 19, 2023
Backlash.
This is so sad. Note the fencing posture with the first brain injury. He may never be the same. @danawhite & @TBSNetwork should be ashamed. Pure exploitation. What’s next, “Who can survive a stabbing”? pic.twitter.com/jTENpUmJDd
— Chris Nowinski, Ph.D. (@ChrisNowinski1) January 19, 2023
— Hektic_One (@hektic_one) January 19, 2023
Aid.
If you really care about “fighters”, the ABSOLUTE best thing you can do, is go to your local MMA gym. Ask the coach who the hardest working fighter in the room is. Then see if you can help that fighter with equipment, monthly tuition, or a website to help them get exposure.
— Din Thomas (@DinThomas) January 19, 2023
Nastiness.
What do you call that position? pic.twitter.com/ZmlhpKAs8Y
— BJJotter (@JiujitsuOtter) January 19, 2023
Not surprising.
Knucklemania 3 on Feb 17.
Also includes Austin Trout vs. Diego Sanchezpic.twitter.com/uY2oZRtZcy— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) January 19, 2023
Nice.
Good rounds with Danielle Kelly today pic.twitter.com/IppMK81Cek
— Jillian DeCoursey (@lionheartjill) January 19, 2023
Comeback season…?!
All the single legs.
No belt needed.
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Junior Tafa (5-3) vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta (9-0); UFC 284, Feb. 11
Jack Shore (16-1) vs. Makwan Amirkhani (17-8); UFC 286, March 18
Raul Rosas Jr. (7-0) vs. Christian Rodriguez (8-1); UFC 287, April 8
FINAL THOUGHTS
Of all the callouts I wasn’t expecting. It’s actually pretty crazy that they never ended up fighting.
Happy Friday and thanks for reading! Have a great weekend, everyone.
EXIT POLL
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Author: Staff
Please go to MMAFighting.com to read full article.
