DIEGO SANCHEZ: YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE

INTERVIEW Ruben D. Rodriguez

PHOTOGRAPHY Eric Williams (www.ericwilliams.LA - DR Management)

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY OF ISSUE #47 FEATURING DIEGO SANCHEZ!

He’s a rising star in a sport that is, itself, a rising star. His 17 consecutive wins had the mixed martial arts (MMA) community buzzing about a title shot, but after two straight losses Sanchez has had to start the long haul back up the championship mountain. The Albuquerque native takes time out of his grueling twelve-hour training schedule to chat with OYE about his journey in the UFC, Latinos in MMA and what lies ahead for Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez.

A fighter of your caliber has to train crazy hours. Do you have a favorite part of training?
I love to do straight out submission grappling. The actual combat of sparring is my favorite part. My second favorite is putting on my soothing music and going on a long run out here in San Diego.

And your least favorite part of training?
Getting up early. I used to be a night owl. I’ve kind of switched it around now.

Which part of your game would you like to improve the most?
Everything. The loss to Jon Fitch was a close fight. I had never had anybody hold me down before. I had to go back to some old school power lifting and even get on a stretch program.

Your only two losses were to Fitch and Koscheck, how important is it for you to get a rematch with them?
The Josh Koscheck fight was an absolute nightmare for me. I had a staph infection. They didn’t know what was wrong. All they knew was that I tested positive for something like Hepatitis C. The day of the weigh in, they let me weigh in as normal. But it was a weird situation because I didn’t really know what was going on. I wasn’t even thinking about the fight. I was thinking, “Am I ever going to be able to fight again,” and, “Is my career over?”I went out there and I did my best. As you can see, everybody knows when they watch that fight it doesn’t even look like me. The next day I went to the hospital because it got worse. There was a golf ball sized lump in my thigh. I woke up the next morning and my whole leg was locked up. I had to get in a wheel chair and I fly back home to New Mexico. I went straight from the airport to the emergency room where they had to operate on my leg. It took about a month to heal. I sat on the couch and thought about everything—about what went wrong.But of course man. I want rematches with both of those guys and I’ll get them. Right now I just have to look to the future, to my next fight.

Do you consider the Koscheck fight a good one?
I was waiting for Koscheck to come and fight. It looked like he was just trying to hit me a few times and then run away. He never really wanted to try to finish the fight. To me that’s not even fighting, that’s like playing tag. To me the definition of fighting is getting in there and trying to knock the other guy out. That’s what makes it an exciting fight for the fans—when two men are trying to take each other out.

Would you say last year was a bad year for you?
In 2007 I really had to go to work and decide if I wanted to be number five in the world or number one in the world. I honestly feel that I was riding on my talent a little bit. I was training but I was a little lost. I was enjoying life a little bit too much. I would go to fights and get my money, and travel and go places. I was really overdoing it.Now with the year being over—I turned 26 on New Year’s Eve—I had to humble myself and I told myself that the only way I will be able to dominate over Georges St. Pierre is to outwork him.Even now, after a twelve hour day, I’ll be in the mirror practicing shadow boxing, working on little techniques. I watch old Julio Cesar Chavez fights because I want to be a great boxer. I really have dedicated myself to boxing and to my jiu jitsu. I want to finish these fights in 2008, not leaving anything to the judges. My two losses I lost to the judges and those were big mistakes.

You’ve said that you weren’t too happy with Georges St. Pierre coming to train at your old school in New Mexico.
You know what, I actually thank him because if it wasn’t for him, I would have never found myself truly again. What he did, he came to New Mexico, my hometown, my gym, my coach. He could have chosen any fight school, any fight team, any place in the world, but he chose to come to mine. It really hit me in the heart when he did that—it really hurt. I went through a lot and I have so much respect and admiration for my [ex coach] Greg Jackson that it was a long process to make the decision to leave Team Jackson and leave New Mexico.I had to leave the camp but it was a blessing in disguise because I always wanted to learn jiu jitsu with the best and now I am training under Saul Ribeiro and Alessandro Ribeiro who is a four time defending world champion. Those are the best guys on the ground in the world. Training with those guys is taking me to the next level on ground fighting. So if St. Pierre wants to take me on the ground I will be truly prepared.

If you could fight anyone, who would it be?
All in all, I’m coming after St. Pierre, and we’re going to get it on. When he sees me across the ring, that’s when he’s gonna find out why I call Albuquerque “burque,” because I’m going give him a “burque” beat down and that’s going come from my heart. He’s training in the cage that has my blood, sweat, tears that I used to build the foundation of the gym and to put Albuquerque on the map. Utmost respect for all the Jackson camp, I look up to those guys still. I wouldn’t be where I am without them.

How do you like living in training in San Diego?
You know, it’s different and it’s good for me right now. It’s a change. I’m in my apartment by myself and I don’t have anyone one. I just see the people at my gym and then I come back home and I got my picture of Jesus right there and I really have become closer to God. I do yoga, I eat, I run, and my meticulous schedule is written out for the day. There’s hardly any time for anything but training and eating. I try to get some reading in, but that’s my life right now.Back in New Mexico, I knew everybody. There were a lot of distractions for me. It’s good to be alone. It’s a part of my life that I’ve needed to go through and it’s helping me grow up.

Are there certain places you’d like to fight?
I look forward to fighting in my hometown. Dana wants to do a fight there. I want to fight in Mexico, in Mexico City, in Latin America—wherever they find the right venue. I want to fight.

There aren’t as many Latinos in MMA as there are in boxing. What will it take to change this?
It’s already happening, but it’s just that Latinos are so rooted in boxing. When mixed martial arts started to come about and evolve, all the Latinos were training in boxing. The Brazilians were doing jiu jitsu and Americans were doing kickboxing…Give it some time.

There are fighters like Tito Ortiz who aspire to move from fighting to Hollywood. Would that ever be one of your goals?
No, sorry, my goals are to outwork St. Pierre, to outwork Koscheck and Fitch, and to become a world champion. My goals are to own land in New Mexico and raise my own bison and live out in the mountains and have my own horses and a ranch. I think it would be fun to do a war movie or something like 300, but as far as being Tom Cruise, that’s not me. I love watching movies but acting is fake and I like to keep it real.

We read you were engaged to Octagon Girl Ali Sonoma, how did your female fans react to the engagement?
Well, me and Ali actually rushed into the engagement. We’re still together and still very much in love. We’re going to wait and be smart about it. We want to be financially set and have a little time together. Me and her are so close. She truly did help me to grow up. She’s 22, I’m 26 and, when the time is right, she’s the one I’m going to marry. And she feels the same way—after I’m world champion and after she’s done what she wants to do with her career.As far as my female fans, I really don’t care how they react. I’m in love and you know, be happy for me. If they don’t like it, they can take a hike.

When’s the last time you got into a street brawl?
I don’t even remember…I have to say, maybe five years ago. I went down to Juarez. I was out partying with all my college buddies and went across the border for the weekend. It was like ten guys on ten guys. We cleaned house and I ended up getting a disorderly conduct ticket.I would strongly advise against street fighting. If you like to fight, get in the gym and practice. Do it in a cage. There are a lot of small venues and small shows that will let you get in there as an amateur. Because in the streets people are getting shot and stabbed. It’s not worth it. You’ve got to be smart about life and be grateful for the life that you have.

There’s a dude down the hall who keeps checking out my girlfriend, can you give me a couple of tips on taking him out?
Confront the guy, personally, but you should have respect for other people’s relationships. Fighting outside the ring, that’s like high school. It’s for kids. As an adult you should be ashamed of fighting outside of the ring or outside of the cage.

We read you failed a drug test for marijuana, what happened? Was it second-hand smoke or did you not inhale?
No, I didn’t smoke. I didn’t fail a drug test.

Some people criticize you for not being vocal about your Latino heritage. What’s your response to that?
I’m not trying to act for anybody. I’m just being myself. I was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I’m of Spaniard descent. I’m Chavez from my mom’s side, Sanchez from my dad’s side. I’m more proud of being a Latino than I am proud of anything. I’m a Conquistador—the blood that runs through my veins. The whole thing is being misconstrued. When I originally won the Ultimate Fighter TV show, the owners of the UFC approached me and they said, “Hey, could we do something special for you, we’ve never done this for any fighter. We’d like to send you out with mariachis.” And I said, of course, I love mariachi music. I’ve been raised listening to mariachis. That’s my heart and soul. They put on the music, and I guess it’s being misconstrued for whatever reason.But me being proud of my heritage and speaking out about my heritage—I’m just myself. I’m Diego Sanchez and that’s all there is to it.

Popularity: 43% [?]