Diego Sanchez Considering Move To Featherweight To Fight Conor McGregor
UFC lightweight Diego Sanchez has been one of the promotion’s most exciting fighters in recent years, with his bull-like style and disregard for everyone he fights. ‘The Nightmare’ suffered an ironic setback in his last fight though, losing a decision to Ross Pearson before being gifted the win by the judges.
Although still officially recorded as a win, it’s hard to imagine Sanchez getting a very meaningful match at lightweight next time out. Perhaps then, a move in weight class would prove shrewd. ‘The Nightmare’, speaking with our friends over at Submission Radio, says he is considering a move down in weight. Check it out:
“I’ve even possibly thought about going down to 145 just to fight (Conor McGregor). Like as a matter of a fact, yesterday I was in my gym working out, and I was like ‘can I do it? Can I make 145?’ I was like ‘I don’t know, I might have to try. I might have to do it.’ Then I was like, but would be worth it for one fight, to go down to 145? Would it really be worth it? I was like ‘I’m gonna have to do like a 10 day fast, I’m gonna have to really sacrifice to get down to 145. I’m gonna have to lose some muscle’. And I was really giving it some serious thought, I’m like ‘but what if I’m stronger, what if I’m stringy. I’m gonna be long and stringy at that weight’. I was seriously giving it some consideration, and it’s not out of the question. It’s definitely not out of the question”
Sanchez and Irish featherweight star Conor McGregor have been embroiled in an ongoing feud for a while now, and with McGregor’s recent win over Diego Brandao, and subsequent booking against Dustin Poirier, the only way Sanchez would ever get to fight ‘Notorious’ is if he drops the extra ten pounds. He continues:
“You know what man, I don’t know. I would love to fight this guy and he said he’d like to fight me too, so I definitely think it’s possible. I think he’s a great mixed (martial artist). I think he’s really talented, I think he’s really tough, I just don’t agree with people going out there and thinking that, this guy thinks he’s like the Anderson Silva, he claims that he’s the ‘GOAT’, and I’m just like c’mon man you ain’t done enough to claim that. You know, I’m all for believing in yourself, but he’s taking it to the next level, and if he gets past Dustin Poirier then he’s definitely on that level, but you know he has that next tough fight. But if we get a fight, then we get fight.”
After the decision against Pearson, and recent losses to Myles Jury and Gilbert Melendez, the future certainly is unsure for Sanchez as a lightweight. Maybe a move to 145 pounds for one last fight is the plan, or perhaps he plans on trying to get a few fights in the lower weight categories. Some fans may question this move though.
Having taken huge amounts of punishment in his last 10 UFC outings, would cutting 10 pounds of muscle really be the brightest idea? If he decides to do so, I’m pretty sure McGregor would be happy to welcome ‘The Nightmare’ to featherweight. What do you think of Sanchez’s pondering of 145?
