Back in 2005, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweights Diego Sanchez and Nick Diaz put on a memorable performance for the ages, headlining The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 2 Finale in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The two scrappy fighter's battled tooth-and-nail for three rounds, and in the end, the judges awarded Sanchez the unanimous decision victory, much to the disappointment of Diaz.
Diaz suffered back-to-back losses after that bout, but has since then gone a tear with a 15-1-1 record, solidifying himself as one of the most dangerous fighters in the division by capturing the 170-pound Strikeforce title before vacating it to rejoin the UFC ranks.
Sanchez, on the other hand, remained with the UFC, bouncing around the lightweight and welterweight divisions, picking up a few "Fight of the Night" honors and losing a lightweight championship match against then 155-pound kingpin B.J. Penn along the way.
Six years later, now that both are competing once again in the UFC's welterweight division, what would happen if the two were booked to rematch in the Octagon?
"The Dream" tells Gerry Rodriguez of MMA Valor that history would simply repeat itself.
Check it out:
Man, everybody out there, straight up, I don't like to hear this crap about Nick Diaz. I'm hearing this stuff on Sherdog, 'Oh Diego Sanchez and Nick Diaz...gotta pick Nick Diaz, that was a long time ago and he's gotten so much better.' You know what man, we've all gotten better. Styles make fights! I'm still a guy that's gonna take down Nick Diaz, I'm still a guy that's gonna push the pace on Nick Diaz, I'm still the guy that's tough enough to take Nick Diaz's little pitter-patter punches. Styles make fights. Nick Diaz has this grappling that's on point and so do I. We get back in there again, I'm going to kick his ass again.
Before the rematch ever even has the possibility of going down, both have dangerous upcoming opponents they have to worry about.
The Stockton slugger will headline UFC 143 on Super Bowl weekend (Feb. 5, 2012) opposite Sanchez's training partner, Carlos Condit, for the interim welterweight title, while Sanchez will face a "Juggernaut" in Jake Ellenberger at UFC on Fuel TV 1 just 10 days later.
A win for both Sanchez and Diaz could inch them closer to a possible rematch down the road. Then again, a loss for both could accomplish the same objective, too.
Now that's a real dream.
