Diego Sanchez is likely always going to
have a job in the UFC.
On top of being the original Ultimate
Fighter, by winning a 185 pound bloat off with Kenny Florian, he
always has and always will deliver high octane and exciting fights.
But, that isn't always a good thing for
Diego. Saturday night highlighted once again why it may be time for
him to leave those gloves laying in the middle of the cage,
remembered for what he was while he can still remember anything.
Early victories over Nick Diaz and Joe
Riggs showed that a younger, thriving Diego was capable of a lot.
After his setbacks to Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck and a drop down to
the Lightweight division, he plowed through back to back Fight of the
Night honors against Joe Stevenson and an all-time great fight with
Clay Guida. Including his 155 pound debut against Stevenson, he was
won 5 of his last 9, with six Fight of the Night honors during that
stretch. So there is no doubt that entertainment is his forte with
his particular style.
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| The many faces of Diego Sanchez post fight. They usually have a lot of (red) things in common. |
I was excited about his return to 155
pounds, where he had his most success, culminating in a title shot
again BJ Penn. It was in that title fight that he was mutilated. But
going into Friday's weigh ins for his UFC 166 battle with Gilbert
Melendez, Diego looked cut and like he could make another run at the
top at 155. What happened after is being considered a fight of the
year candidate, but to me that is just surface talk.
The reality, and a sad one to me, is
that Gilbert trounced Diego all over that cage. While both men came
forward with flurries worthy of being on UFC fight highlights and
show openings for years, Melendez landed quicker and more precise.
Diego himself, the instigator of the flurries, barely landed.
Instead he left after another decision,
this one a loss, with a familiar combination of a massively swollen
face and a fountain of blood running into every crevasse on that
face. It's years of abuse, it's a lot of scar tissue and it's just in
his DNA to bruise easy and bleed heavily.
But it's hard to watch, sad to see and
makes me question whether now is the time for Dana White, or somebody
else close to Diego, to say that enough is enough. Clearly Dana White
has no issue making known how he feels about fighters taking too much
punishment. He virtually pushed Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes into
retirement, hinted vigorously at Forrest Griffin and after that same
UFC 166 card, he was straight forward in how Junior Dos Santos'
corner should have thrown in the towel midway through yet another
beating at the hands of Cain Velasquez.
So why not feel the same about Diego?
Just because the fight was entertaining? Dana has said many times
things along the lines of Diego having a heart matched only by his
chin. But both having a lot of heart and having a steel chin really
only translate to one, similar thing, in MMA: you have, often, gotten
the total crap kicked out of you.
When all is said and done, Diego's role
in the UFC's development and his credit as perhaps the most
entertaining fighter in the sports history, should be enough for Hall
of Fame consideration. He will retire, whenever that is, as one of
the very better fighters to never wear UFC gold.
But now is the time. Diego has taken
too much punishment and is no longer doing himself or anyone else any
favors.
13-6 is a respectable mark inside the
Octagon, but I would really like to see his 20th UFC fight
as his swan song. Diego deserves a proper sendoff and as one of the
guys who really set the UFC off (as much as Griffin and Stephan
Bonnar get the most attention for that front, that night and that
season of TUF), he absolutely deserves better than what he has been
getting.
