Diego Sanchez Signs Eight-Fight Deal With UFC
Posted by Kris Karkoski on Sep 9, 2009 at 2:00 pm ET32 Comments
Lightweight contender Diego Sanchez, who meets 155-pound title-holder BJ Penn in the main event of UFC 107 on December 12, has signed a new eight-fight contract with the UFC ahead of the title shot, according to Sherdog. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The winner of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, Sanchez (21-2) is currently riding a four-fight win streak that includes victories over Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida.
Sanchez dropped back-to-back decisions to Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch in 2007, the only losses of his career, while “Nightmare” also holds notable wins over Kenny Florian, Nick Diaz, Joe Riggs, and Karo Parisyan.
Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for the latest Diego Sanchez news.
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Good for the crazy dude from New Mexico, who is soon to be 21~3 in his MMA career
It s good to see that the UFC is starting to tie up some of the fighters with nice long fight contracts. After Randy last week and now Diego it s good to see these fan favourites commiting their futures to the ufc and they must be happy with their pay deals to obviously sign longer fight contract. Hopefully the UFC will continue to tie up their fighters for the forseable future. And lets see if Dana Whites negotiation skills can hoepfully tie up a new contract for Anderson Silva after he said his latest contract was his last
Silva said he was going to retire, not that he wasn’t happy with his contract.
I think this is a calculated move on the UFCs part. It makes sense to lock fighters up to long term contracts like this becuase if they under perform they can release the fighter at anytime and then resign them to a smaller deal. However if the fighter wins a title then the UFC has them at that predtermined payrate for 5 or 6 more fights before they have to renegotiate. By that time the chances are he will have lost the belt and not have a whole lot of leverage in negotiations. They don’t want to get stuck negotiationg a new contract with their champ like they have had to do in the past. The fighter has a ton of leverage that way.
Wow. Eight fight deal. Couture’s new contract was for 6 fights. Is it me or are contracts terms getting longer, at least for guys with lots of fights under their belts?
is it possible for me to answer my own question?
great news, i’ve been a Sanchez fan since Season 1 of TUF. The dude has what it takes to be a champ, i honestly hope he can get the upset against Penn to make things more interesting and possibly develop a new rivalry at 155. I think he has a better chance than Florian did and i feel that this is going to be a sick war in the 1st round, after that he might get taken down and submitted but i do feel that if Sanchez goes back to his wrestling and if he’s lucky enough to score a takedown he’d be able to do some damage to BJ being that Diego IMO has one of the best mounts and gNp in the game.
I don’t see Sanchez submitted as much as I see him TKO’ed. This is a very good test for BJ’s cardio tho. The main question is which BJ the last 1 we saw or the one before that?
i cant wait to the fight deigo iss finally ready for his chance he can do it
I wonder if Diego was shouting “YES! YES! YES!” as he signed his new deal
Good for Diego.
I’m glad to see contract lengths growing, though I’m sure there is still the option to cut a fighter if they fall off. I think the lengthening of the contracts has to do with the emergence of Strikeforce as a semi-legitimate competitor.
Good for him.
I think you’re right Justin. Maybe the UFC is “playing it safe” by signing longer contracts with fighters since strikeforce seems to be pulling more tricks out of it’s hat.
This might not only be the only reason for signing diego to an 8 fight deal…does the UFC have big plans in store for diego? DO they believe Diego sanchez will be “the prodigy’s” worst “nightmare”?
Diego Sanzhez is both a tough and crazy son of a bi*ch. I’ve always liked how pumped the dude gets not only for a fight but at the weigh-ins as well. I know Bj pretty much just owned Ken-flo, but Sanchez is not Ken-flo, Sanchez just manhandled Guida which is by no means an easy thing to do. Some might argue that BJ Penn would only lose if he beats himself which i agree, but there is always this crazy possibility of fighters actually rising to the occasion and having amazing performances that can see them get a legit win. I think Sanchez if anyone can, i think he can beat a 100% focused BJ if he unleashes his crazy pace on Penn that Guida couldn’t even keep up with. I feel that if Diego from the start fights his kind of fight he might be able to break Penn which has been done before whether Penn fans like it or not. I’m not guaranteeing victory for Sanchez, i’m simply giving him a chance rather then be one of those fans who’s on the BJ wagon saying that Sanchez has no chance because whether some people like it or not Sanchez is a good fighter and can pose problems for Penn.
On the other hand Bj is fu*king “BJ” so i feel if he wants a easy day at the job his best bet is to take Sanchez down and play with him a little then do him like he did Florian and Stevenson. I don’t think he can ko or tko Sanchez NO..F-that i know Penn is great but Sanchez is no Sean Sherk, Sanchez is a tough son-bi*ch who doesn’t quit and never says “die”.
This fight is going to be super sick and who knows we might see some amazing $hit outta these guys that we have never seen before.
Good for Diego I personally don’t like him but he is entertaining and a f’n animal.
DBIZ- I understand that Silva said he wants to re-tire and it was nothing to do with him not being happy with his contract but you gotta agree that money does talk and if the UFC offer him a big deal then there is always that chance that he might sign it. The worst the Spider can say is no. They were looking to break the bank to bring Fedor in but did nt get him so i dont see why they dont try and offer Silva that little bit extra to try and keep him
I wouldn’t be surprised if the UFC has some sort of “retirement clause” that prevents fighters “retiring”, then going elsewhere. I don’t know that they do, but it’s possible. Given that Silva is the champ, and we know they have a champions clause, Silva cannot leave the organization as Champ unless he retires, and there’s probably something in the champions clause that prevents him “retiring” as champ only to come back and fight somewhere else 6 months to a year later. I also doubt the UFC would let him relinquish the belt with 3 fights left and knowing he wants to go box. Therefore he likely has to lose the belt, which then decreases his value elsewhere.
It isn’t unheard of in a variety of professional mediums to have a non-compete period after the term of your contract expires.
One of my partners is a huge pro wrestling fan, and he’s always telling me that the reason you almost never see some pro wrestler peforming on one channel on Monday night and on some other channel the next Monday night is that they usually have some sort of 60/90/180 day no-compete clause built into the last contract.
Going hand in hand with that is usually some sort of “close-out check” paid to the separated party to make ends meet until he or she is free and clear to sign with another company.
Maybe the UFC has started placing that clause into their contracts?
Makes sense, I suppose…
Also, it does seem as if Zuffa is taking the whole “Strikeforce Alliance” thing seriously, and making sure the talent they deem important is in house and under contract for the duration.
” They were looking to break the bank to bring Fedor in but did nt get him……”
Just going to state that if the purchase of PRIDE didn’t “break the bank” I doubt offering Fedor a rumored 30(+) million would hurt ZUFFA that much, just my 2pennies worth…
Definitely so.
A 30 million dollar contract spaced out over however many fights and based upon PPV monies isn’t that big a pill to swallow to a company that Fortune Magazine vales at about half a billion dollars in value, and thats in a weak economy.
Actually, it’s just a verbal contract. Dana said “Do you want an eight fight contract?”
Diego answered: “YES, YES, YES, YES, YES”
sorry, someone has to be the guy who makes the Diego YES joke…
Awesome news. Ive always been a fan of Diego, even though I think he can come off as cocky sometimes. But the dude can fight. He is one of the most exciting fighters right now and I think he is entering his prime. Hell, he might not even be close to his prime yet. I think its a no brainer to say that he stands the best chance of beating Penn because of his size, strength, and wrestling background. If he tries to stand up with Penn or go for the submission, he will lose pretty quickly. He needs to do what GSP did to BJ…use his strength, push him up against the cage, take him down, and over power him with wrestling and GnP.
Even with all that being said, I think BJ will win.
Jenkinsss,
it makes total sense to use the game plan that did soo well against BJ Penn @ UFC 94 when Penn was fighting at WW…. I know that you said you think that Penn will win and this isn’t the argument that I’m bringing…
UFC 101 (Kenny Florian) showed that if you attempt to replicate GSP’s last performance against Penn you will undoubtably lose and lose BIG… Simply because most 155ers can’t get the powerful takedown against Penn and they simply aren’t GSP…
Now IF Sanchez is going to have a opportunity to seriously BEAT BJ Penn for the LW title he needs to come in and fight “his” fight, don’t counter Penn, don’t out~wit Penn on the feet, don’t try to go in and show that you can hang on the ground with him… Sanchez needs to go in and attempt to beat the shhh out of Penn, he needs to fight Penn very similar to how he fought Guida but better and faster and tougher..Sanchez needs to go in there batshhh crazy and leave it all on the line, no doubt at that point he has the best chance of beating Penn… For if he tries to show dominance over Penn he will go to sleep rather early in the evening and awake with a annoying headache….
just my 1.294 cents..
You have great points there, and i completely understand what your saying.
But even though Florian tried to replicate GSP’s performance against Penn, Sanchez would have a better chance of actually succeeding at that. My logic behind this is that Sanchez is stronger than Ken-flo. He has a superior wrestling background, he has fought in the UFC against much bigger guys at 170, he has freak cardio and he has a larger frame than Ken-flo. That is why i think he would do better at pushing Penn around and taking him down. Like i said, I still think he would lose if he did this…
Basically my point is that Sanchez has the better style and skill set against BJ than Florian does.
Personally, i see Penn submitting Diego.
i wanna see nick diaz beat the crap out of this kid, at whatever weight. the first meeting was bs
hahahahaha WHOA dream big
Nick has been on a tear lately. I think he could have won the first fight had he fought a bit smarter. I would love to see this rematch. I’d have to put my money on Diaz.
You’re correct, Nick has been on a tear lately.
But let me hit you with some knowledge my friend.
-Diaz is a slower fighter than Diego
-Diego has better cardio
-Diego has underrated bjj, great wrestling, and crisp striking
-Diaz wasnt even close to the level of competition in the UFC that Diego is at right now.
-Diaz wont even take a simple drug test…so…
And Diego’s last 6 fights were against far better competition than Diaz’s last 6 fights were.
The only advantage Diaz has is his BJJ, and maybe his boxing. Diego is a more rounded fighter.
thats all i have to say about that.
Since Nick has trouble cutting weight, he’ll never make it to 155 to fight Diego. I recall a phrase about people in hell wanting ice water…
“Diaz wont even take a simple drug test…so…”
Sure he will, you just gotta give him 10 days notice =P
All good points but I still gotta put my money on Diaz. I do think dbiz is right though, I dont think it would be very easy for Diaz to make 155 anymore.
I don’t recall Diaz ever making 155. His bout with Gomi was at 160, as were all of his EliteXC bouts, and both Strikeforce bouts have been at a catch weight near 180.
When i said UFC were looking to break the bank to bring in fedor i did’nt literally mean break the bank or mean in any way that they could nt afford him. Its just a saying us brits use when a sports company or team offer that little bit extra to that 1 stand out talent which is more than they have previously paid to other members of the team or organisation.
Anyway glad to see Diego commiting himself to the ufc and really looking forward to the Sanchez vs Penn title fight. i think that Sanchez has a great chance of winning but he is going to have to be on top of his game to beat Penn as he showed in his last fight that he is the top 155 and worthy champ at the mo