Last call for Diego Sanchez?
Yeah, we don’t deny it: On the surface level, there’s something warm and fuzzy about the fact that [autotag]Diego Sanchez[/autotag] is still on the UFC roster.
It’s 2020. “The Ultimate Fighter 27” winner Brad Katona just got cut from the company. And here’s Sanchez (29-12 MMA, 18-12 UFC), The “TUF 1” winner, returning for his 31st UFC bout, and fighting in his hometown, to boot.
As long as guys like Sanchez are still on the roster, those of us who have been following this sport awhile will feel there’s still some sort of connection to the days before the UFC was part of a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate.
And yet, we can’t help but wonder how much longer this ride is going to last. Heading into his last fight, against Michael Chiesa, Sanchez rambled about dying “a good death” in the cage, and you couldn’t help but wonder if we were seeing something more than just his ordinary quirkiness. Then he went out and lost badly to Chiesa, his third loss in his past five fights.
Ideally? Sanchez gets a victory over an interesting competitor in [autotag]Michel Pereira[/autotag] (23-10 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in the evening’s welterweight co-feature bout, get a thunderous ovation in his hometown, and then calls it a career.
But you know as well as I do that if Sanchez wins, there’s zero chance he walks away. The flip side of this: If Sanchez puts in another listless performance, it might be time for the UFC to pull the plug before things get out of hand.
[opinary poll=”whats-your-pick-for-michel-pereira-vs-di” customer=”mmajunkie”]