Toxic

How is Diego technically any better at striking than average, he misses over half the punches he throws, is not even remotely accurate and leaves his chin wide open and exposed. Diego is far from the most skilled fighter, he only has so many defenders because he is about to fight BJ. I remember when everyone would adamantly defend Stevenson, then he got forgotten, but Sherk was a monster and blah blah blah, forgotten, then it was KenFlo, noticing a pattern, Diego isn't a legitmate contender he is the flavor of the month for the BJ haters.

__________________

The Toxic Terrors (FFL)

Georges St. Pierre*Sarra McMann*Pat Curran*Patricio Freire*Uriah Hall

NP FFL Team Toxic Challenge

Fabricio Werdum*Gilbert Melendez*Rick Hawn*John Dodson*Urijah Faber

Danm2501

I don't think Sanchez will beat BJ Penn. With Penn as commited as ever, enjoying training and fighting and wanting to form a legacy I think he'll beat Diego fairly comfortably. However, I don't see how having immense mental strength which has allowed him to make the most of his abilities and become one of the best fighters in his division is a negative.

This mental strength has allowed him to rack up a seriously impressive 21-2 record in his MMA career, with his only 2 losses coming to top tier fighters in Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch, and neither of those 2 guys could finish Diego. He's beaten Jorge Santiago, Kenny Florian, Nick Diaz, Karo Parisyan, Joe Riggs, Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida just to name a few. That's an impressive list of guys to defeat right there.

I honestly believe Sanchez offers BJ Penn a far greater challenge than Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson, and I expect the fight to be a war. I see BJ coming out on top, fairly convincingly, but you never know what Diego's going to bring to the table, I'd certainly love to see him pull off a win. I like Diego Sanchez alot. YES!

__________________

tap nap or snap

I'd rep you if i could, I've noticed the pattern for a while, tbh penn is not always the most likable person, but you can't deny his skills, as someone else said it's been yrs since he's be beat at 155lbs.
once he stuck to the strength and conditioning program that he used for the last fight I see this going the way of all his other 155lb matches, he'll dominate. this doesn't take anything away from sanchez he's a good fighter.
I personally class BJ, GSP and A Sliva as on a level as to make great fighters look average, and it will take a decline, retirement or a fluke (gsp v matt) to dethrone them

M_D

hey i still think stevenson is a super great fighter, sherk is a monster, and ken flow is devastating everywhere the fight goes now with that being said penn is my fighter so im glad he whoops everyone

honestly i like diego but his skills are not near bj's in any fascit of the fight

__________________

tlilly

Yeah I agree, I think diego is a good fighter, but I think it takes a great fighter to beat BJ and i wouldn't put diego in that class. At least he hasn't done anything to show that he is capable of greatness imo. TBH, I think there are a lot of talent in the lw division but i havn't seen anyone do something that makes me believe they can be a great fighters. My definition of a great fighter is a fighter that comes a long every 5 - 10 years and impacts the sport in a way that others can't. Like a GSP, SIlva and Lyoto.

swpthleg

BJ's just trying to get into Diego's head, which is futile at this point.

Mental toughness + Diego's degree of aggressiveness (ie he just keeps coming at you, and coming at you till he KOs or submits you) will take him anywhere he wants to go.

__________________

Mckeever

Id like to see your stats for that. Diegos striking has improved greatly over time and id say he was a good striker. He seemed pretty accurate in the Guida fight with the brutal uppercuts and then the sick head kick, theres accuracy for ya. What about the likes of Wanderlei silva, would you call him a sloppy striker because he swings wildly and leaves his chin exposed? Also diego has an excellent chin.

You say Diego is far from the most skilled, id like to see who you think other than BJ is a highly skilled LW fighter, seeing as though your giving no credit to any of BJ's other contenders either. They are all very good fighters and id say Diego is at the top of the bunch. Just because BJ wins time and time again against these guys doesnt make them bad or not skilled fighters, its just that BJ is a level above the competition at LW. His black belt in BJJ which he earned after 3 years speaks for itself.

Diego will definitely put up a better fight than Florian, quote me on that.

vandalian

Guys Diego has beaten, such as Guida, Karo, Diaz, Stevenson -- those all seem like guys he should have beaten, in retrospect. Only the Karo fight was really considered an upset, but it doesn't really look like one anymore.

You could argue that some of them, such as Joe Daddy, had bad game plans, but you can't count that against Diego.

Diego did much more to earn a title fight at 155 pounds than Penn ever did. He fought two dangerous lightweights leading up to Saturday, while Penn only needed to choke out a fading, then-unranked Jens Pulver to get his shot.

But even in those two fights, I'd say Diego was the favourite. So it seems more like he's fulfilled promise than overachieved, really.

tlilly

exactly my point. If Diego were to beat bj, then he'd be an overachiever.

The Dark Knight

Hmmm, I don't know what to make of BJ Penn's statements. On the one hand he quite right - The mental aspect of Diego Sanchez is stronger than his skills. On the other hand, you could argue that in order to even be an MMA fighter you have to start by being a tenacious mofo. Therefore, that could be applied to anyone, including Penn.

Thing is though, Diego will have been the biggest and most unrelenting 155er he has faced in quite a long time. It's good for him that he is on underestimating Sancheza, but if it goes to the later rounds, Penn better be on his toes because that's when Sanchez is likely to be most dangerous.

I would agree with Toxic that his striking isn't amazing. I would say it's decent, but nothing to write home about. His wrestling is good and his BJJ is decent as well. All in all he is a pretty well rounded fighter but doesn't have any specific devasting technique that should bother Penn too much. In that respect he is sort of like a LW version of Forrest Griffin.

__________________
Why Do We Fall?