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June 18, 2009

Catching up with Diego Sanchez

Diego Sanchez is headlining The Ultimate Fighter season 9 finale Saturday on Spike TV in a match against Clay Guida and I recently caught up with him for a few minutes to get his thoughts on the fight.

DIEGO SANCHEZ

On his gameplan at TUF 9:

The key to the fight is me executing my gameplan. I’m a better fighter with better fights on my record. I have more experience and am going to have the fight of my career.

On his opponent, Guida:
I have respect for his heart and conditioning, but when he gets on top of people and lays there and holds them down? That won’t work with me. It’s a boring style and I’m ready for anything he tries to do.

On his strategy:

I’ll hit him with elbows, attempt triangles, hitting armbars, sweeps, guillotines. I will be constantly attacking from my guard.

On his current condition:

I feel strong and faster at 155, especially with my wrestling. My takedowns have improved as the guys I fight walk in weighing 160 now as opposed to 190.

On the future:

My plan is when I turn 30 -- I’m 27 now -- I want to turn back to the welterweight division and fight the best. I want to win the belt here and hold it and when the time is right, move to 170. Truthfully, I could fight in both weight classes.

On the MMA video game:

Oh, man, it is so awesome. They did such a good job with the video game. They made me a 90 rating and I’m pretty good on there. I don’t have knockout power but maybe in the next edition I can get that added.

On Georges St. Pierre:

It’s weird ... I fought GSP five times in a row and got my butt kicked. It sucked watching myself get knocked out five times so I switched weight classes.

On what fans don't know about him:

I think my fans know everything about me. What they don’t know they can wonder about.

I also caught up with Joe Stevenson and Joe Rogan, so keep an eye out for those interviews later today or early tomorrow.

Posted by Mark Chalifoux at 7:55 PM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Q&As
        

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About the blogger
Mark Chalifoux covered his first MMA event at UFC 68 in Columbus, Ohio. Since that night, he’s been hooked on the sport. He is based in Cincinnati and also works in sports talk radio. He’s written for the Athens News, ESPN.com, SI.com, The Cincinnati Enquirer and the Chalifoux Family Christmas Newsletter.

Pramit Mohapatra, who currently runs FightTicker.com, previously authored this blog.
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