Throughout this month, we’ve been following the amicable split between Diego Sanchez and his long-time trainer, Greg Jackson.
In fact, the “Nightmare” is now working with Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist Saulo Ribeiro and his team at University of Jiu Jitsu (UNIJJ) in San Diego, Calif.
While all this was happening, former welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre announced that he decided to become a full-time member of Team Jackson — he had been training here and there with the camp for months prior.
So did the presence of “Rush” force the move of Sanchez? According to a recent “Mr. Sunshine” Steve Cofield interview with the New Mexico native, it did.
Sanchez explains in the audio snip that he felt Jackson had lost faith in him when he made the decision to help out the Canadian. In addition, he mentions that eventually him and St. Pierre will eventually cross paths and that “building a brotherhood” just didn’t make sense if that was going to happen.
There’s a lot more to the interview (he confirms his engagement to UFC Ring Girl Ali Sonoma) … but we just want to update this specific story with that caveat. It is certainly more than just “wanting to be closer to his family” like we were initially led to believe.
***
Cofield has a treasure trove of other great interview during this run-up to UFC 74: “Respect.”
Check these out:
He’s not done yet, either. From 12:25 p.m. to 1 p.m. ET TODAY “Mr. Sunshine” will take phone calls [(800) 777-2907] from UFC fans during his Sporting News Radio program. Feel free to check it out and listen online here.
Randy Couture (taped) and Mike Swick (live) will be featured on the segment, which will be aired live from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
44 Comments »
GSP is better for a team then Diego Sanchez.
Diego has no stand up and a decent ground game, why would he go train bjj with a gi, and leave such a great camp which just added one of the most dynamic welterweight strikers out there… diego is a mental tard.
BTW please dont use diego’s ko of riggs as an example of his striking, if riggs kept his composure and stayed with all 4 points on the ground, he wouldn’t have been knocked out from the knee.
“I dominated Karo”
Bullshit, Karo won that fight. The UFC judging is so subjective if you are a poster boy or TUF fighter and fight goes to decision, they find a way to judge you to win.
Diego won against Nick Diaz becuase of the take downs. He did no damage to Diaz at all. Karo took Diego down, not only many more times, but threw him in a devestating fashion with the Uchi Mata’s. Diego only dominated the last two minutes at the last round. So if we use the same judging as Diego vs. Diaz, Karo should have won. But Diego was the TUF poster boy so…
Dominated Karo…
GSP is stupid for joining a camp were u he will b the best fighter. GSP should be wit Randy at extreme couture
are you kidding john…. greg jacksons camp has many top fighters like nate marquartd, rashad evans, and keith jardine…. i dont think coutures camp has that type of talent… wow john wow
GSP got into Diego’s head with this move…it will be a long time before Diego gets over this very subtle mind-beating. It could work in GSP’s favor in many ways. Plus, it’s a good camp to spend some time in.
I find it funny that all these “beef” interveiws always have reasons/excuses for themselves. If Diego thinks Greg Jackson lost faith in him, Y DIDN’T HE JUST CALL HIM OUT ON IT???? If I think something different, I’ll call him on it!!!
No John, GSP isn’t stupid. Karo trains with Randy. A little thought before you post please.
So what if GSP joins the same camp as you… It can only help your game. Koscheck, Fitch and Swick all train at the same camp and are 170 pounders (Swick just moved down)
i agree with him not wanting to develop a friendship or a partnership with gsp because he’s right, they will meet somewhere down the line more than likely…good move for sanchez, team jackson is overhyped anyway…
Bullshit Aug 25th, 2007 at 10:12 am
“I dominated Karo”
Bullshit, Karo won that fight. The UFC judging is so subjective if you are a poster boy or TUF fighter and fight goes to decision, they find a way to judge you to win.
Diego won against Nick Diaz becuase of the take downs. He did no damage to Diaz at all. Karo took Diego down, not only many more times, but threw him in a devestating fashion with the Uchi Mata’s. Diego only dominated the last two minutes at the last round. So if we use the same judging as Diego vs. Diaz, Karo should have won. But Diego was the TUF poster boy so…
Dominated Karo…
dude, i agree diego didn’t dominate karo at all, it was a very good fight, but theres no way karo won, diego won all three rounds, him fighting in tuf had nothing to do with that decision, it was more his ability to take everything karo had and still be able to come back stronger and with more aggression…
hey BULLSHIT, dont you remember karo’s tooth flying through the air. diego didn’t totally dominate him but he did win decisively.
Style: Im a huge Karo fan, but GSP is at the top of the world, any camp would have him, Im sure if he wanted to train wit Randy, he would chase karo away like he is doing to Diego.
I hope to hear a nice announcement from Dana during this paper view. Is their any possibility that Fedor is signed, and they just kept it quite to make the announcement during this pay per view. This is a big event, since we havent had won since 7/7/07. Could the signing of Fedor have been kept quite? is that even a possibility, that big news like that could have been kept from leaking to the press.
I’m probably dreaming but how great would it be if Dana White invites Fedor to the ring tomorrow night and introduce him to the American public as his latest signing. WOW that would be more exciting to me then any of the fights! Please Dana, stop keeping Fedor from us! It’s Cruel and unusual ppunishment and we don’t deserve it! U signed everyone else…. time to push your ego to the side, open up ya piggy bank n get the Russian Experiment in the octagon! I can’t wait any longer!
Whoever said that Karo beat Diego????
You seriously need to see someone about all those delusions. It’s not healthy to look at life backwards.
Diego BEAT karo…. Whoever says he didnt is either a sanchez hater or a karo fan!
‘john’ – bit off subject, but your right, if that was to happen and dana did announce Fedor as a sign up, it would be far better than any fight on that card! we can all dream
Matt, is it impossible to be both a Karo fan and Diego fan? Honestly everybody needs to stop hating! There’s a reason none of us are in the UFC!!!
WOW diego gets jealous pretty easy and besides diego isnt that great of a fighter.
sour diesel you are so f*cking right,imo diego isn’t that good of a fighter a bclass at most yeah he beat karo but hey sh!t happens.I really can’t see diego being a champion no time soon he mite never wear the belt
Diego Is a worst head case then GSP. I think DS will never take the next step, my opinion. His gone about as far as this luck and talent will take him…grant it he is young but he’ s missing a screw or two…. GO KOS TONIGHT TOO!!!!!!
After GSP and Diego lose their upcoming fights, they can fight each other 4 the Battle Of The Headcases.
Diego quit acting like baby.
Dang sometimes a fighter’s pride is a b!tCh. I think Diego could have learned alot from GSP. It probably could have boosted both their skills training against each other.??
I think with this move Greg Jackson has shown his true colours. He is a self promoting pimp. The guy straight up betrayed diego. Without diego, myself and alot of other MMA fans wouldn’t have known that greg jackson existed. Even from his days as a KOTC champ to TUF winner, Diego always paid respect to Greg and this is how he is repaid? It all, in my eyes, makes greg Jackson look bad.
And with all the terrible performance of the Jackson camp fighters as of late, I think Mr Jackson has no real special talent in coaching – I think great fighters like Diego and GSP will do well regardless of which training camp they are aligned with.
Diego was so wrong with his prediction of the gsp/kos fight, I knew most were underestimating gsp’s wrestling but the way he dominated kos on the ground even surprised me. Kos looked terrible, I almost had to pinch myself for a reality check, what happened to kos, or is gsp just that good? Gsp would steam roll diego, no body has anything on him in that division, he is truly a freaky fighter like dana said “the new breed of fighter”. Diego was so wrong about Gsp’s mental state, Gsp looked very confident and seemed better than ever, but his fight against Hughes was his best performance ever.
All you Nightmare fans need to realize Diego is a child. You think GSP really is aiming to take his spot at Jackson’s camp? Last I checked, GSP went to Jackson, not Jackson went to recruit him.
Besides how can anyone hate on GSP? The guy is one of the most classiest professionals in the sport. And last I checked, GSP is the better fighter with more skills, more experience,and more sucess. Diego really had more to gain training with GSP than vice versa.
Now watch Diego slip into obscurity with 2nd rate trainers who can’t mold him into a better fighter. I don’t think Diego can ever achieve the kind of sucess he had. Expect him to lose again to Fitch.
Deigo Sanchez, the new Chris Leben of 170.
Diego is a fighter with heart and if any fighter steps into the cage with him who doesn’t have as much heart including GSP and Fitch they will be screwed. Diego also didnt get to where he is at by being stubborn and magically teaching himself the fight game, he listens which is another reason why leaving the Jackson camp to study other techniques and avenues will only help him and he will un-doubtedly be better and soon to be champion.
All of NEVADA is behind you diego, kick ass and take names you’re hater proof and that’s what makes you a badass fighter much love mis amigo.
Last time I looked, fighting is an individual sport. Diego should do what’s in HIS best interest, and he feels that not getting buddy-buddy with GSP in anticipation of a potential future fight is the right way to go. Diego gets his mojo back by kicking Fitch’s ass.
[quote post="3146"]Diego was so wrong with his prediction of the gsp/kos fight, I knew most were underestimating gsp’s wrestling but the way he dominated kos on the ground even surprised me. Kos looked terrible, I almost had to pinch myself for a reality check, what happened to kos, or is gsp just that good? Gsp would steam roll diego, no body has anything on him in that division, he is truly a freaky fighter like dana said “the new breed of fighter”. Diego was so wrong about Gsp’s mental state, Gsp looked very confident and seemed better than ever, but his fight against Hughes was his best performance ever. [/quote]
i agree
GSP is a world class fighter…Some fighters have like GSP have natural talent and the only draw back that takes place with these fighters is that they sometimes dont train or work as hard as someone with shear determination… but when they do they are amazing to watch…Also karo to me is the same way..Diego on the other hand is a sheer determination type fighter which can also be great to watch but never like a determined GSP OR KARO…
This makes me dislike Diego Sanchez even more. Petty, classless, and childish.
Seriously, this is a JOKE. Look at Fitch and Kos… if they werent in the same camp they would be fighting each other. Granted, neither are Champions, or former champs, but if they werent in the same camp, they’d have fought each other. There is NO WAY Sanchez will hold that belt in the next 2-4 years.
mayun we have a lotta diego haters in here dont we? Diego is has been very controversal lately because he let everyone down in the kos fight where he didnt do shit. yes i completely aggrree Diego didnt bring shyt to that table. Case closed on that one no one can defend Diego on that one. However I beleive if he wooduv been the sanchez weve were all exspecting to see in the octagon that day and the fight was good az hell like we wannted it to be there woodent be this controversy that suddently has been evolving around sanchez’z skillz. I cant wate for Diego to DOMINATE FICTH and shut all Diego haterz the hell up. One bad performance give the mayun a break…geeze…
UFC fighters ALL need to take a lesson from the Coutre playbook. Learn to box and move and not just stand head on looking for the bomb. Sanchez’s achilles tendon are his weak boxing skills and lack of power to finish the stronger guys like St. Pierre, Hughes, Koschek and Serra.
Go train with Rampage Diego, lift some weights and leave the BJJ for the jacket boys.
Sanchez is near the top of my favorite UFC fighters. Yes, I agree that he didn’t completely show up for the Sos fight and I agree that his reason for leaving the Jackson camp make him sound childish but his behavior outside the cage or even those funky preparation routines are the reasons why I never miss a Sanchez fight, it’s because of his performance in the cage. Based on the comments above, I’m pretty much alone in this opinion but I did think Diego dominated Karo. Diego’s knee dentistry aside, he responded well to Karo’s throws well and won each round decisively. I can’t wait to see Sanchez against Fitch. He’s had plenty of time to train after his loss to Kos and I hope he comes out better than he’s ever been! There’s no reason why he can’t.
Diego made an “emotional” move. Indicative of a boy
in a man’s sport. He is now a target for the veterans
who will use this to mess with his head. The fallout
has just begun. Lots of spanky, spanky coming.
Diego does seem lost, making some seemingly random moves in hopes of finding something that will work. I hope he can find a good trainer with proven abilities that can bring him to his potential. If he dropped down in weight, I think he’d be too skinny to complete effectively. He’d be better off building more muscle and going up in weight.
ahh
yes i will use the example of the ko on riggs degios stand up is one of the best out there riggs got knocked the fuck out he will one day be champ so what he left the other team. it called expanting his arsenal get over it