Being a great fighter requires more than training hard and delivering when it counts. Before the battle there really has to be a synergy between the personal and professional life. No one understands that more than UFC welterweight Diego Sanchez, yet he's had as much trouble finding that synergy as any high level fighter in the sport.
Sanchez has bounced between welterweight and lightweight, unsure of which class is the best for his body type. He's also wrestled with lifestyle issues, and training techniques and camps.
The 28-year-old has always had great tools, but again tonight he gets to see if he's got all the other stuff together so he can pull off a big win over Martin Kampmann at UFC on vErsus 3 in Louisville, Ky. It's all part of trying to make a brutal stretch, that included losses to B.J. Penn and John Hathaway, in the rear-view mirror.
"I hit rock bottom after the B.J. Penn fight, I really did. I blew through all my money, I made some very bad decisions," Sanchez told MMAWeekly. "I had this scam artist scam me real bad. I was embezzled over $175,000. I really got hit rock bottom and I had to come back home."
The whole episode was demoralizing.
"I needed my family love and I just was humbled, 100 percent. I was humbled back down to zero. I had no ego, no nothing, just humble, and that’s what, after the John Hathaway loss, I was still in the funk. I was still in the funk for John Hathaway," said Sanchez.
The problems started when he let his ego get the best of him back in 2007. That's when he decided to leave his original trainer Greg Jackson and his hometown of Albuquerque. Why? He was angry that Jackson was also working with UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. Sanchez took it as a slap in the face. He viewed it as a "him or me" situation. He left and settled in San Diego. His new trainers may not have been a big step down from Jackson, but it seemed like he lost his moral compass.
"When I walked in, it was the most amazing feeling because I felt like I was home again, because we’re talking about a gym that kept me out of the streets as a young child. This is somewhere that I went twice a day, and I was 19 years old. I was in Jackson’s twice a day or do the morning classes, or do the night classes," Sanchez said. "This is something that was just, it was my life. And to go back to, back home, and Greg Jackson that guy has got so much love for me. He just had his arms open, all the doors open, and said this is your home Diego. So, it was a great feeling."
Sanchez (22-4, 11-4 UFC) posted a nice win over Paulo Thiago back in October. We find out tonight if a return to his versatile, attacking style will overwhelm Kampmann (17-4, 8-3 UFC), and more importantly the judges, in what's likely to be a fight that goes to the judges.
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