Diego Sanchez and the “YES! Cartwheel” of glory
A self admitted Tony Robbins follower, Diego Sanchez has long been viewed as …. well, a little bit on the odd side since the days of his stint on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, but it appears as though lightweight title challenger has completely out-done himself during last evening’s airing of the UFC 107 Countdown Show on Spike TV, performing the “Yes! Cartwheel” like it was his job.
Will Diego come out to the Octagon while doing the “Yes! Cartwheel” in his UFC 107 clash with B.J. Penn for all of the marbles at 155 pounds on Saturday evening? Will he employ the tactic in the heat of battle for one of the most spectacular knockouts in the history of the game? Stay tuned as Penn vs. Sanchez promises to be one of the most entertaining UFC showdowns in recent memory.
Cory Brady is the managing editor of FiveOuncesOfPain.com, along with being a regular feature writer with Ultimate MMA Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/corybrady
| All posts by Cory Brady
He may be odd, but I bet he take Penns belt.
i will take that bet fan.
oh he is beyond odd. reminds me of one of those guys in grade school who will do anything he can to get everyone looking or paying him any kind of attention
Yeah, i was thinking the same thing. He is a little “different”, but my money is on Diego.
Penn is going down! Bring the thumbs down bitches!
You really think Penn will walk out with the title Moose.
I think this is a great fight but it will come down to who is stronger mentally by the 4th or 5th round. That guy will end up winning and I think it will be Deigo by close decision, or very late tko.
Nightmare! Nightmare! Woooooooooooo!
BJ via Rear Naked Choke in the 3rd round!
@VENOM- [deleted] Sanchez by tko rd 1.
Easy on the fighter bashing king. – Staff
That was hilarious! The guy is definitely out there, but he’s a great fighter and he’s banging Ali Sonoma so he must be doing something right.
Can’t wait to see him bring the ruckus to BJ, should be a great fight.
BJ Penn takes this one…. easily. Write that down.
I can see Diego putting on more pressure and having the better cardio, but I see BJ being better than Diego in every other aspect. I think BJ is kind of a douche, but I almost never bet against him, and definitely not when he’s fighting guys his size. I think BJ is better in every area except maybe in takedowns, which I think is Diego’s only chance. If he can grind BJ out on the ground and avoid any mistakes that might get him submitted, he might be able to overwhelm BJ and gas him out, but I just don’t see it happening. No one has even come close to touching BJ so far in the LW division since the UFC brought it back.
Just when I start convincing myself that Diego has all the tools it takes to beat BJ, I remember that I thought that about Florian too. I believe that Diego could easily beat the BJ we knew from a couple years ago, but BJ today is a whole nother beast. An in shape, focused, confident BJ Penn is the best 155 lb’er in the world, period. I believe that Diego will come with a great effort, and it will be a very exciting fight. But until someone beats BJ and this weight, I will not bet against him again.
Sanchez TKO rd 1. Write THAT down!
If Deigos cardio is as good as it was when he fought at 170 the he wins easily, but his last two fights he seemed to slow down quite a bit by round 3, hopefully he has enough time to acclimate to the weight cut and we see the cardio machine he was not long ago.
Just wanted to keep posting to see if i could be #1 P4P reader! LOL I made it!
lol, congrats mah mah, but I must still disagree with Diego winning. BJ has too many more ways to win the fight imo. Like Xspur said, until someone beats BJ at 155, I will never bet against him.
@ Makington- I’m looking for Diego to overwhelm him in the beginning for an early TKO. Or outlast BJ waiting for him to gas. Either way I think Sanchez takes it. Atleast i hope. I want Diego to shake the LW division up a little bit.
@ The staff- Sorry guys, didn’t think before i typed! I apologize.
Water under the bridge – Staff
Copy that.
Penn has yet to be knocked down in a fight so I doubt Diego can stop him. Penn is better in every aspect of the game and I really don’t think cardio will be an issue. Diego was gassed in the 3rd round of the Stevenson and Guida fight so maybe people should look at his cardio issues.
He is a bit of a nut, but what can ya do? Also Diego is probably my favorite fighter, but I have BJ winning.
fan first off, I dont like BJ PENN at all.
but that dosent mean he is not what it is…..the best lightweight in the world. I would be the first in line of all the BJ haters wanting…..wait PRAYING for him to get destroyed but it wont happen.
Xspur is correct
“I believe that Diego could easily beat the BJ we knew from a couple years ago, but BJ today is a whole nother beast. An in shape, focused, confident BJ Penn is the best 155 lb’er in the world, period. ”
plus a TICKED OFF Penn is nothing Diego wants to deal with. Nothing piss him off more then when some young punk runs his mouth off and when is confronted with what he said in an interview like last Saturday and tip toe around the question.
I loved how Penn ended the interview with
“I’ll see you in the middle of the ring Diego”
Fan this is not going to make it to the 4th round at all and the nightmare is in for a rude awakeing like he was when he fought Kos.
Sorry but no one beats BJ penn in the 155 division for a while! I thought Florian had a chance and I believe Florian is still a better fighter than Diego.
I am with VENOM 3rd rd submission
I am just glad BJ is not fighting in the 170 lb class anymore.
Diego has a history of looking strong in the 4th and 5th rounds of fights.
BJ has never fought anyone in Diego’s league.
Moose, very good point, and maybe B J coming out guns blazing is exactly what Deigo wants, get B J riled up and make him come out looking for the ko, wear him out fot two rounds(easier said than done) then attack.
I think this type of mental game Deigo is playing is a tough one to pull off as B J usually isnt one to fall for it but you never know, Deigo could just work this plan out and acually have B J gassed out by the third round.
Hrmm, how many 5 round fights has Diego had? I’m really not even sure where you pulled that thought from. Penn looked great in the late rounds against Florian, barring an injury that effects his training, BJ will be in shape for this one.
Sarcasm Xspur……
Notice the smiley face…?
when was the last time Diego had a Champion Ship fight Mr Andrest???? and what weight class????
I know Penn being two divison Champion has been is some wars going into the later rounds but Diego hasnt not once in his almost 5 years in the UFC.
I did not, I apologize. Thank God it was sarcasm!
well if it is sarcasm then I suck. casue i even doubled checked just to make sure i wasnt putting my own foot in my mouth
Good God does anyone not have a sense of humor!!!!????
does anyone HAVE a sense of humor…. That’s what I meant
oh and fan mind games wont work on the new Penn. Not with a guy like Diego throwing the mud. Penn and his camp (brothers) have grown and re-focused themselfs wich sucks for me casue I would love to see guys like Maynard, Ken Flo again, Bocek get in their soon but with Penn being only 30 and only getting better and better, I can see him holding on to that belt forever. Unless he tries to move up again wich would be fine with me.
at LW he is just too damn good and I dont see any of my favroite fighters in LW taken him out.
I know most of you are fantasizing about traveling to Hawaii and putting a lei on BJ,but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s gonna lose! Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!
Who knew that getting the brakes beat off of him by GsP would refocus BJ in such an intense fashion. He gets the nod in every phase of the fight. He’ll put a more competitive effort than Kenny but in the end he’ll be stopped early 5th Round.
BJ Penn not only loses his title in this one but he gets so whiny bitch after words that he retires on the spot. OK, that might not happen but a guy can hope.
Deigo is all out all the time and being the bigger fighter going into this one will serve him well. If diego doesn’t get stupid and get caught early I think he has far better cardio the Penn and easely more heart then Penn that I see Sanchez either winning by tko gnp late in the fourth or in the fifth or by decision.
Either way I`m looking forward to comming on here after BJ loses and starts to whine again just to have a laugh.
na War
Venom is right. 3rd.
I think who wins this fight really comes down to 1 thing
who gets the first eye poke in, that fighter will win this fight.
No moose, BigDave is right.
and thats why I love BigDave.
as much as it kills me Penn takes this one.
I thought it was awesome when i saw there was 40 comments for a diego sanchez/bj penn article… then i read the comments and realized it was just someone getting their “e-numbers” up….
That’s kind of lame.
Yeah so lame you took time to comment on it.
Diego is super silly . I can’t help but be fan of the guy on and off the mat.
Amen to that! I love Diego too … sure, he’s a little contrived and a bit silly overall, but he is always entertaining, inside the octagon and out.
Unfortunately this is the last really great UFC fight on the immediate horizon, so I am going to enjoy every bit of it … I hope it goes 4!
I have Diego in the second round by “YES” shout!!!!!!!
if you want to chat, why not chat?
btw. i see bj as the winner, but im hyped up, everything can happen.
i’d pay to see Diego doing the YES Cartwheel right off a cliff
fanoftna33 says:
December 9, 2009 at 1:10 pm (Quote)
I think who wins this fight really comes down to 1 thing
who gets the first eye poke in, that fighter will win this fight.
that can be very well true as well fan
lmao
Diego said he has something special planned for the Latino community for his entrance.
like a one-handed cartwheel holding a burrito? that would be impressive.
Holy shi…
Why?
Uh…color me the party pooper here, but what if he tries that before the fight and injures himself? Nobody wants Diego to pull a Shamrock. If he goes mental trying to pump himself up you never know.
lol very good point. let’s hope that bs doesn’t happen. I like Diego a lot, too, but assuming BJ is still this “newly refocused” BJ, agree with the majority here that he is just simply better. Florian didn’t even look like a top fighter against Penn. Sure, Sanchez is moving down from a larger weight class but BJ has obviously fought the BEST at 170 and has even taken on Lyoto Machida at 220 (and did pretty well, imo, despite the UD loss). All I ask for is an entertaining fight, no BS eye poke, and no BS unanimous decision everyone disagrees with later. If Diego pulls it off, then at least we have a rematch to look forward to at some point
…the weirdo checks out in the 3rd, BJ licks the blood of another victim off his gloves.
BJ by rear naked choke as Diego screams “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
But if King Mah Mah is right, some of y’all will have to change your screen names or take an ass load of “toldja so’s”
Diego is delightfully wacky.
Remember in TUF when Kos convinced him while drunk that aliens were coming to get him?
Or like that guy at MFC 23 last weekend who was hoping around the ring just moments before his fight and severely rolled (and possibly broke) his ankle.
Not only was that incredibly embarassing…but it most likely cost him the fight too.
BJ wins this fight… and any fight against UFC’s current 155 roster.
He really should move up to WW, albeit not to an immediate title shot. I’m much more intrigued in match-ups with Fitch, Alves, Koscheck, etc.`
This guy is such an oddball.
I don’t know about everyone else, but his stare-down before the fight is annoying as hell to me. Sorry Diego, but you’re not fighting a guy that’s going to be intimidated by a mean look.
To all the folks saying that BJ is going to get KO’d, there is no way that’s happening. He’s fought people that naturally weigh 75+ pounds more than him without getting knocked down.
The only way I see Diego pulling this off is if BJ gasses and Diego just out works him.
LOL!
Diego’s stare doesn’t annoy me personally, but I totally agree with you when you state that he isn’t going to intimidate anyone with it.
Not at this level anyway…which brings me to my next question. Why does he do it then?
Seems like it wastes a lot of energy.
I mean I doubt I could make that face for 5 minutes straight without completely gassing out.