Diego Sanchez is a true veteran of MMA. He’s been with the UFC from TUF 1 until 2020 when he was unceremoniously released for refusing to certify in an email that he’s not suffering from a cognitive decline. UFC proceeded to pay Sanchez as if his retirement bout against Cowboy Cerrone happened.
Sanchez was under the influence of problematic guru Joshua Fabia at the time. After parting ways with the problematic guru, Sanchez has been toying with the idea of BKFC or even boxing but there were concerns about a bout involving him getting sanctioned.
The concerns were put to rest when Albuquerque chose to license Sanchez to compete at the BKFC event in February.
The event will feature a match between Diego Sanchez and Austin Trout at KnuckleMania 3.
BKFC will take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on February 17. A welterweight match will feature UFC veteran Sanchez and former WBC light middleweight champion Trout. Both of them were born and brought up in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Diego Sanchez joined Eagle FC after a long stint in UFC and made his professional debut against Kevin Lee in March 2022. However, he lost the match.
Eagle FC is now postponing its U.S. activities, leaving Sanchez without a strategy on how to continue his career. The 41-year-old has his bare-knuckle debut scheduled after signing with BKFC last year.
He responded to the announcement on Instagram by saying:
“Been waiting along time”
Additionally, Austin Trout joined BKFC last year. The former WBC world champion is still competing at age 37. In 2022, he defeated both of his opponents in professional boxing. Trout hopes to build on that success in his bare-knuckle debut.
Trout has a professional record consisting of 36 wins, 5 losses and 1 draw. If we don’t count Sanchez’ DQ win over Michel Pereira, he hasn’t won since March of 2019.
Over the course of his career Sanchez went 30-14 in MMA, but the issue with him was always that he’s taken a tremendous amount of damage during his bouts.