2 Mixed martial arts career
2.1 Move to Lightweight
2.2 Return to Welterweight
3 Personal life
4 Championships and awards
4.1 Mixed martial arts
4.2 Submission grappling
4.3 Amateur wrestling
5 Mixed martial arts record
6 References
7 External links
Sanchez was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He attended Del Norte High School, where hebecame a state champion wrestlercitation needed
Diego Sanchez wrestled in New Mexico before starting training MMA while working for UPS. Sanchez eventually joined Jackson's Submission Fighting, still while working for UPS, managing the time between work and training. In 2002, he made his MMA debut for King of the Cage where he also later became a champion
His UFC debut came when he was chosen as a participant on the first season of the reality show, The Ultimate Fighter. Presented as a young, focused middleweight who only had one goal, to become a UFC champion, he won a contract with the UFC after winning a fight against Kenny Florian, becoming the middleweight winner for the first season of the show. On the show, Sanchez was known for being the "odd-ball" of the group, practicing yoga at odd moments and trying to extract "energy" from a lightning storm, and was also a self-proclaimed "Zen master". Shortly after, Sanchez dropped to welterweight, defeating Brian Gassaway, Nick Diaz, John Alessio, Karo Parisyan and Joe Riggs.
Sanchez' last fight before his loss to Josh Koscheck was against Joe on December 13, 2006 at UFC Fight Night 7. Sanchez landed a right hook that knocked down, followed by a running knee that knocked Riggs out. Sanchez won at 1:45 of the first round, scoring the first UFC knockout of his career.
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