Diego Sanchez wants to let the critics know that his strategy against Michel Pereira was more effective than they first thought.
After Pereira dominated Zelim Imadaev en route to a third-round submission victory this past weekend at UFC on ESPN+ 34 he received heavy praise, including from UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
But it was only a few months earlier that Pereira suffered a disqualification loss to Sanchez after striking the veteran with an illegal knee. Though Pereira was en route to winning the fight on the scorecards, Sanchez wasn’t physically compromised or in serious trouble at any point in the fight.
Sanchez (30-12 MMA, 19-12 UFC), who recently started working with “School of Self-Awareness” founder Joshua Fabia, has employed a different approach to fighting, using unique movement and defense that has allowed him to steer away from his usual brawling style.
The unconventional methods have drawn plenty of criticism, but Sanchez, who’s won three of his past four, decided to take to Instagram to address the haters. He is a heavy underdog going into his UFC 253 matchup with Jake Matthews and, after seeing the way he was able to handle Pereira’s explosiveness, he likes his chances against the young Aussie.
“With all the current praise on my last opponent I’ll be the first to praise that he’s the fastest, strongest, most explosive man I have ever faced! I expected him to fade in the third due to the 5500ft altitude and extreme weight cut, he didnt …. up until the illegal knee to the head on the ground I didn’t have a scratch, bruise or cut everything was blended, blocked and guided away to minimize head trauma! Me and my coach received a ton of hate after the fight, now they have wrote me and my guru @joshuafabiaknowbody off ounce again! 3 weeks out from fight island @jakematthewsufc is -500 on the odds we are ready to make some magic happen! this Aussie ain’t no @michelpereiraufc I am very relaxed and confident ready! tune In to @ufc 253 as I flip the table on the game, it is not chess when all the pieces are on the floor.”
The inaugural winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” is still trucking at the age of 38, but the 42-fight veteran hinted that the end may be near. He recently signed a new four-fight deal with the UFC and plans on honoring that contract before eventually calling time on his career.
