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. They have never met despite their long UFC careers.
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. Diaz, at the moment, is considered to be one of most popular free agents across all 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 going to tell you right now that Nate is like everyone else in combat sport,” Sanchez stated. We’re all trying to make the most money possible. … So he’s got Conor McGregor, Jake Paul and he’s got Floyd Mayweather. These three fights could be huge, big paydays for him .”
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VIDEO STEW
Between The Links.
Embedded 4.
UFC 283 Hype.
The Big Nog legacy.
Craig vs. Walker preview.
Shogun’s greatest fights.
Burns greatest hits.
Octagon flashback.
PFL Challenger Series: Heavyweights.
LISTEN UP
DAMN! They Were Good. MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and Shaheen Al Shaatti remember the legendary career of Mauricio Shogun’ Rua just before he takes his last walk.
Heck of a Morning. Mike Heck from MMA Fighting discusses with Francis Ngannou which MMA promotion he should join.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Soon.
Both sides have agreed.
Both sides have agreed.
— Ricky Simon (@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. 521, 56[**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** ******************************************************************************************************************************************************** #foodforthought
— Eric Nicksick (@Eric_XCMMA) January 19, 2023
Backlash.
This is so sad. Notice the fence position after the brain injury. It is possible that he will never be the exact 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 your coach to identify the most dedicated fighter. Seek out ways to support the fighter, such as equipment, tuition or publicity.
— 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 (c) (@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 calls I didn’t expect. They never actually fought. It is quite amazing.
Happy Friday and thanks for reading! Have a great weekend, everyone.
EXIT POLL
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Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/1/20/23562936/morning-report-diego-sanchez-calls-bare-knuckle-match-against-nate-diaz-little-b-ends-up-buckling?rand=96749
