Diego Sanchez Wants to Unleash The Nightmare on Ross Pearson

Diego Sanchez is nothing short of entertaining inside the Octagon, but he’s looking to bounce back from back-to-back losses inside the Octagon this Saturday against Ross Pearson. The Dream, formerly known as The Nightmare, joined Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour to discuss his upcoming bout during the UFC’s first trip to Albuquerque, Sanchez’ home turf.

“I had my UFC 171 fallout, I didn’t have a very good showing and I’m not even going to to into the details because people are saying that I’m making excuses and stuff because I had food poisoning, but I did. People who really know the sport, they watch my fight with Gilbert Melendez and then you watch my fight with Myles Jury and you can tell that those are not the two (same) men out there. One man is faster with explosiveness, more energy. The other guy is just like, ‘oh shit.’ Now, all I want to do is get in the cage and show people my real, true capability because that wasn’t me that night. Then I get back home and eight days after my fight, my manager calls me up and he’s like, ‘don’t tell anybody this, but UFC is coming to Albuquerque.’ So, I’m like ‘oh my God, I got to get on this card,’ Right away I started training. Thank God I’m a very fast healer, my cuts already started to heal and I went to a couple of doctors and got two releases. I told Joe Silva, ‘I know not many people are going to want to fight me in my hometown at high altitude.’ That’s a hard fight for anybody. because they’re going to be sucking for air against a guy who puts a high pace. I told Silva that I had to be on the card. I don’t care, I told him to find me someone and that I didn’t care and that I would fight at 185, 170, 155 or 145. I don’t care, just find me somebody and I will fight anybody on the roster. Bring him to Albuquerque and I will fight him. He was pumped and trying to find me an opponent for a good month, and thank God for Ross. He’s the real deal and he stepped up and he’s a warrior that comes to fight. He’s pumped, he wants to make some money and have a good fight.”