Sanchez recalls poor beef tartare decision
Diego Sanchez: “The age-old boxers, like, if you eat blood, it’s going to make you an animal? That was my mindset, as stupid as it is.”
Diego Sanchez was last in the UFC octagon on the wrong end of a decision to Myles Jury at UFC 171, something he blames on the bad decision in his post weigh-in meal:
Although Sanchez, still just 32 years old, maintains that the root of his problems that night rested in his choice of pre-fight meal, along with the ensuing food poisoning that laid waste to his system on the day of the event.
“I was in such great shape that I was able to still be feeling alright, but the problem was I threw up three times at the hotel and then three times at the venue,” Sanchez said. “The problem wasn’t that I felt like crap, the problem was that I couldn’t hold any food down, so I didn’t have any nutrition in me.
“I didn’t have any energy, and then on top of that I was dehydrated because I couldn’t hold water down, so I just went out there with an empty tank and it was just like my speed wasn’t there, my energy wasn’t there. If you noticed, I was trying to get myself pumped up the way I get pumped up in a fight … but I didn’t even have the energy to get pumped up.
“It wasn’t bad luck. It was a bad decision on my part,” admitted Sanchez. “And I learned from it, trust me.
“I was like, ‘I’m so ready, I can have whatever I want.’ And I ate a super raw steak and I had a beef tartare with a quail egg as my appetizer. You know the age-old thing? The age-old boxers, like, if you eat blood, it’s going to make you an animal? That was my mindset, as stupid as it is. I look back and I’m like… man, you’re an idiot sometimes.”