Getty Dana White
UFC president Dana White should expect a message or phone call from “The Ultimate Fighter” season one middleweight winner Diego Sanchez. “Nightmare” wants to have his retirement fight inside the Octagon – somewhere he called home for 32 bouts.
That’s what he told BJPenn.com in a recent interview. Sanchez is currently preparing for a bare-knuckle boxing match against former WBA light middleweight champion Austin Trout. The two are scheduled to scrap at the Tingley Coliseum during BKFC Knucklemania 3 on February 17.
Nightmare spoke with the outlet ahead of his bare-knuckle debut, and he told them that he wants a proper sendoff fight with the UFC considering he’s in a “good place in his life.” Sanchez parted ways with the promotion in 2021 after he was pulled from a bout with Donald Cerrone while he was working with controversial coach Joshua Fabia.
Sanchez was removed from the roster after his team, including Fabia, couldn’t produce evidence that Nightmare wasn’t suffering from medical issues, according to a report from Yahoo Sports. Sanchez has fought once since his UFC departure, dropping a unanimous decision to Kevin Lee in Eagle FC last year.
Sanchez Is All-In on Retiring in the UFC
Sanchez and Fabia no longer work together. And if it’s up to Nightmare, he’ll enter the UFC’s cage one more time.
“It’s all in God’s hands. I really do miss my UFC fans. I’m going to hit up Dana to see if he can let me come for a visit and come visit the show,” Sanchez said. “I want to see Jon Jones and support Jon Jones and watch him win his title. We will see. UFC has evolved and adapted to a new sport, they don’t really like the older guys in there. They love building new talents, but like Jamahal Hill said anything is possible. I would love to step into the Octagon one last time on my own terms, with the positive energy, with the love that I feel right now, the strength and the confidence and just being a good place in my life.
“That is where I would want to step into the cage one last time. It would be nice, but I’m not promising anything,” Nightmare continued. “I really am excited working with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. They work well with the fighters and are really working well with me giving me this hometown fight in Albuquerque, New Mexico. So, we will see.”
Sanchez Wants to Fight Nate Diaz
One name on Sanchez’s list is Nate Diaz, another winner from “The Ultimate Fighter” who is no longer a UFC athlete. Nightmare defeated Nate’s older brother Nick Diaz in the UFC in 2005, and he told MMA Junkie recently that he wants to be the first combatant to hold a win over both Nick and Nate.
“Nate won’t fight me because I beat his bigger brother and he idolizes his bigger brother in this weird way,” Sanchez said. “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*tch ends up buckling.”