Diego Sanchez is clearly pumped up that Conor McGregor has put some steam behind a potential matchup between the two.
Sanchez (30-12 MMA, 19-12 UFC), who meets Jake Matthews in a welterweight bout on Saturday at UFC 253, said during his pre-fight interview this week that he has plans to fight four more times in his career before moving on from MMA. “The Ultimate Fighter 1” winner said in his ideal world, a matchup with McGregor (22-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) would be the perfect farewell fight.
After Sanchez’s comments were dismissed as tomfoolery, McGregor made it known that this is no farfetched scenario. “The Notorious” released an Instagram direct message conversation with UFC president Dana White revealing that he had asked for the fight to be made earlier this year. It didn’t materialize, but McGregor said he’s still willing to oblige Sanchez’s request.
It didn’t take long for that message to relay back to Sanchez, who appears to feel a fight with McGregor is destiny (via Instagram):
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Diego Sanchez (@diegonightmaresanchezufc) on Sep 25, 2020 at 12:03pm PDT
I have @jakematthewsufc first and am 1000% ready to master the task! When I speak of true universal connection and #IAMTHISNOW I can assure you @espn you will have something special as I do what I have to do to get my healing 9/26/2020 @thenotoriousmma I will earn this opportunity with my excellence that is displayed at #ufc253 I will off the heads of as many as needed to get to you! Fuck the belt we are destiny mark my words it’s in the ether #IAMTHISNOW
The idea of Sanchez and McGregor fighting isn’t something that came out of the blue. It stems back several years, with Sanchez calling for the fight as McGregor was quickly rising the ranks to become a big star. The Irishman even offered to fight Sanchez on short notice when he’d lost an opponent in 2015, but it never came to fruition.
.@DiegoSanchezUFC wants to end his career with “legend fights,” including a retirement bout vs. @TheNotoriousMMA.
“I’ll be here waiting if he wants to do it at the end of the road.”#UFC253 | Full story: https://t.co/TqfqeMhpZ0 pic.twitter.com/zMm2VkwtWG
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) September 24, 2020
At 38 and with a 5-5 record in his past 10 fights, it’s clear Sanchez is no longer in his prime. McGregor would likely be a steep favorite in a hypothetical contest, and many MMA fans online have been unenthused over stories and social media posts about the pairing.
Sanchez said he’s going to show it’s a fight that needs to be made, though, by beating a solid rising name in the sport in Matthews at UFC 253 (via Twitter):
You can talk shit now after Saturday’s healing you will be begging for thus fight
— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) September 25, 2020
You can talk shit now after Saturday’s healing you will be begging for thus fight
UFC 253 takes place at Flash Forum at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+.