Would a prime Diego Sanchez be a top LW today?

VanMMA

VanMMA

Brown Belt
@Brown
Joined
Mar 13, 2017
Messages
4,654
Reaction score
956
In his younger years his wrestling and ground game was top notch. Remember the beatdown he put on Josh Rafferty?

He had some spectacular moments in the standup as well:
tumblr_mfwriuEU881ry1rm7o1_250.gif

sanchezriggs1.gif


Diego was a beast.
 
Possibly.

He was a beast back in the day.

Craziest shit was him dominating Nick Diaz, even on the ground.

Sanchez was a force to be reckoned with.
 
Probably not,but would watch
 
He'd probably beat Edson Barboza and apparently that makes you top 5 nowadays
 
Nope. He allegedly went against the most overrated fighter ever in Bj while Diego was in his prime and still got completely demolished.
 
No and Diego Sanchez wasnt even a top LW in his heyday. The UFC was weak as fuck. BJ Penn and Sean Sherk were the only strong fighters until Frankie came in and then the WEC guys.

The only reason rankings had so many UFC guys in the top 10 was because it was the most accessible. LW was littered with top guys from DREAM, Sengoku, Shooto, Strikeforce, etc.
 
VanMMA said:
In his younger years his wrestling and ground game was top notch. Remember the beatdown he put on Josh Rafferty?

He had some spectacular moments in the standup as well:
tumblr_mfwriuEU881ry1rm7o1_250.gif

sanchezriggs1.gif


Diego was a beast.
Click to expand...
TRT!
 
Well the reason he became a brawler was because he didn’t have the ability to get the fight to the ground anymore. Today would be no different. Had he beat koscheck and never left Jackson’s we’d be talking differently about his career but going away in 07 hurt his overall mma progression imo and limited him game
 
VanMMA said:
In his younger years his wrestling and ground game was top notch. Remember the beatdown he put on Josh Rafferty?

He had some spectacular moments in the standup as well:
tumblr_mfwriuEU881ry1rm7o1_250.gif

sanchezriggs1.gif


Diego was a beast.
Click to expand...
Hell yeah, and it had nothing to do with him being "prime" Diego and or out of his-prime... wasnt the issue at all. The problem was that Diego had the most relentless ground and pound in the division at the time. He beat Nick Diaz on the ground among others. The problem was he fell in love with a couple KO's and thought he was a striker and he basically ditched the game that brought him to the dance to begin with. Diego would have been champion I truly believe if he had continued to hone his grappling, BJJ, and wrestling all which were already great along with a never ending cardio and GRANITE chin. He would have been champ.

Wanting to Become a striker was his downfall
 
Spookv said:
Nope. He allegedly went against the most overrated fighter ever in Bj while Diego was in his prime and still got completely demolished.
Click to expand...
BJ? but beat Nick Diaz on the ground where he shined at the time. Diego wanted to be a striker and ditched his relentless ground game, thats where it went wrong.
 
Prime Sanchez? Really good chance I'd say. Conor wouldn't beat him, neither would Dustin Porier. Shit I think he'd even give khabib and Kevin Lee really tough fights.

Diego was a skilled beast. Technician on the ground. But he fell in love with his Mexican warrior side.
 
oh god no.
 
VanMMA said:
In his younger years his wrestling and ground game was top notch. Remember the beatdown he put on Josh Rafferty?

He had some spectacular moments in the standup as well:
tumblr_mfwriuEU881ry1rm7o1_250.gif

sanchezriggs1.gif


Diego was a beast.
Click to expand...
good wrestling, poor striking, incredible tank and chin.
Never going to reach the top but great to watch imo.
 
HHJ said:
Probably not,but would watch
Click to expand...
I am shocked as a 2004 member you dont remember how Great Diego was? Before he went down the road of TRYING to become a striker which he didn't have any business doing. The guy had a granite chin, never ending cardio, a relentless ground and pound game that he completely ditched. He messed up his own career and being prime had nothing to do with it. He would have been champion no doubt in my mind. By the time he got a title shot he already convinced himself he was a knockout artist and tried to box a BJ Penn who was far better on the feet.
 
Not a fucking chance. Compared to any lightweight in today's top 10 (maybe even top 15, too lazy to look), Diego literally has zero skills on the feet. Slick BJJ but lackluster wrestling.
 
VIPERdude said:
I am shocked as a 2004 member you dont remember how Great Diego was? Before he went down the road of TRYING to become a striker which he didn't have any business doing. The guy had a granite chin, never ending cardio, a relentless ground and pound game that he completely ditched. He messed up his own career and being prime had nothing to do with it. He would have been champion no doubt in my mind. By the time he got a title shot he already convinced himself he was a knockout artist and tried to box a BJ Penn who was far better on the feet.
Click to expand...
I dont believe he stopped grappling because he felt like it. Like most grapplers who "abandon" the ground game,he probably has worn out knees and other injuries which he obviously isnt going to admit to. Its retire... or try to adapt. Like
rampage,fedor,hendo,and many others who "abandoned" their grappling at some point in their careers.




Anyway i thought diego was great but unfortunatley the win over diaz was probably the best showing of his career.

Kudos to him for actually being somewhat successful as a mid to later career brawler
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,237,193
Messages
55,474,789
Members
174,787
Latest member
Biden's Diaper

Share this page

Back
Top