Nightmare shaved legs, got pedicure to prepare for Held leg locks

UFC lightweight Diego Sanchez spoke recently with Brent Brookhouse and John Morgan for MMAjunkie, ahead of his fight Saturday night vs. Marcin Held, in the co-main main event of UFC Fight Night 98, in Mexico City, Mexico. The Polish submission specialist Held has two wins via Heel Hook (one inside, one out), two wins via Toe Hold, and two wins via Knee Bar. Sanchez is ready, and his preparations included shaving his legs.

I’ve been fighting for a long time and I’ve been fighting the highest level strikers and mixed martial artists in the UFC for a long time and now I get to fight a grappler, said Sanchez. It’s an exciting matchup. I have to remember from experience who I am. I’m Diego Sanchez, I’m ‘The Nightmare.’ You go forward, you fight, you’re aggressive. You’re the predator and he’s the prey.

My mindset is: I have kids, I have a family and I have a career. He wants to break my leg. I look at it like this: He wants to break my leg, so I have to break his face before he breaks my leg. That’s how I look at it. I’m going to break his face, I’m going to break his body, I’m going to break his leg and I’m going to break his spirit. That’s what Diego Sanchez, ‘The Nightmare,’ plans to do on Saturday night.

I’m ready for his takedowns and I’m ready for whatever he’s willing to do. Roll for ankle locks – my legs will be shaved and silky smooth. I put an Instagram of me with a pedicure tool getting my heels all silky smooth. I’m ready for whatever he brings, but the thing is this – is he going to be ready for what I bring? Because I’m going to bring fire. It’s going to be that Latin heat and I’m going for the KO. I’m going for the KO and I’m going for his head. In my mindset, going into this fight it is calm, it is confident, and it is courageous.

Sanchez has had an extraordinary career, fighting professionally since 2002, at welterweight, lightweight, and even featherweight. From 2010-2012 he won Fight of the Night three times in a row. Since then he has alternated wins and losses three times, most recently suffering the first KO loss of his career, to Joe Lauzon at UFC 200 in just 26 seconds.

The question Saturday is will the win-loss pattern indicative of a somewhat diminished skill level continue, or at 34, after fighting for 14 years, is Diego Sanchez simply not Diego Sanchez any more?