Dana White on a not at all fun part of his job

When Diego Sanchez beat Kenny Florian to win The Ultimate Fighter 1, he was 12-0, and had been fighting for just three years. That was in 2005. Today, “The Nightmare” is 38. He’s 9-11 in the last decade, and 1-2 his last three, with the win coming via receiving an illegal kick. And in addition to age, there’s mileage. Diego Sanchez always fought hard for the fans, disregarding punishment.

After his losing (30–26, 30–26, 30–26) to the relatively unheralded Jake Matthews at UFC 253, and at the post-fight conference, president Dana White was asked about Diego’s future. Sanchez has several fights left on his contract, and wants to fight it out.

For many, many years, White has had The Conversation with great fighters past their prime who want to keep fighting, but shouldn’t. Prior to the same of the league to WME-IMG (now Endeavor), the conversation sometimes involved a no show job for the likes of Chuck Liddell, Big Nog, Matt Hughes, and Forrest Griffin. Those jobs didn’t last in the end, except for Forrest who actually showed at the no show job, and remained employed after the UFC sold.

The no-show option is off the table, and White is particularly grateful to the entire cast of TUF 1, and has expressed the desire to induct them en masse into the UFC Hall of Fame, as he regards the single most important thing in the league’s history. So the difficulty of considering firing Sanchez was clear on his face as he spoke.

I love Diego Sanchez, and I don’t know, said White. It’s something I’ve got to think about, and it’s obviously something that I’ve got to talk to the guys about back when we get home in the office and see what everybody thinks. I got these guys now – you got Diego Sanchez, who fights his heart out every time he fights, he was part of ‘TUF 1,’ everybody knows how I feel about those guys, and he’s just a great person.

Then you got ‘Cowboy’, who you can say all the same things about, and as these guys start to get older and start racking up some losses, it’s tough. But Diego is like – I want to say, I don’t know for sure off the top of my head, but he’s won three of his last five or something like that, but yeah it’s tough. It’s the not fun part of this job.

Making the situation all the more challenging, if Sanchez is released, he will fight on in another organization. Because that’s who he is.

UG, if you ran the circus, what would you do?