‘Diego Wants B.J.’s Belt!’ The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale Winner Diego ‘Nightmare’ Sanchez looks to get his first UFC championship belt as he takes on B.J. ‘The Prodigy’ Penn.
On Saturday, December 12, 2009, American and Bad Boy fighter Diego Sanchez (23-2-0) will be fighting fellow American and Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn (14-5-1) in the main event of the evening, at the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee.
Diego Sanchez started training for MMA when he got out of high school. Starting off his MMA career at a perfect 12-0, Diego didn’t make his UFC debut until he was chosen as a participant on The Ultimate Fighter, which he won as a middleweight. After the show, Diego dropped to welterweight, his hard hands, wrestling skills and unquestioned amount of stamina got him five more wins until losing to top contenders Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck. He made his lightweight debut against Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson and won by unanimous decision. He would later go on to beat Clay Guida by split decision, which is up for Fight of the Year, before getting the chance at the lightweight belt.
Diego certainly won’t have an easy time with this match, as he faces a man that hasn’t been beaten at 155 lbs. for almost eight years. While defeating people that had been training jiu jitsu their entire lives, Penn became the first non-Brazilian to win the black-belt division of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championships, after only three years of training in Jiu Jitsu. With these jiu jitsu skills and a pair of heavy hands, Penn has been ruling the Lightweight division.
Diego will go into the fight with a height and reach advantage. His conditioning will be at the very least the same as B.J.’s, with the potential to be way greater, while his striking has the potential to match Penn’s. But can his wrestling and jiu jitsu match B.J.’s? Only this potential relentless onslaught will tell.
This is going to be a great fight. Both fighters have that hunger about them, and they both have the tendency to put on great shows. This is a fight that could win Knockout or Submission of the night and Fight of the Night, not to mention the possibility for Fight of the Year in 2010.
