Sanchez Eager to Make His Move on The Heavyweight Elite

Sanchez Eager to Make His Move on The Heavyweight Elite

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The last time UFC heavyweight Eddie Sanchez fought at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, he suffered his only mixed martial arts loss against a legend in the sport, Mirko Cro Cop, back in February. On December 29th Sanchez will be back at the Mandalay Bay taking on Soa Palelei. This time he’s more than confident that he’ll come out of the bout with his arms raised in victory.

Sanchez (9-1) is coming off a very important victory, scoring a second round technical knockout of Colin Robinson. That fight took place in Belfast, close to Robinson’s hometown of Antrim in Northern Ireland. ‘The Manic Hispanic’ had to deal with this disadvantage, and other ones that weren’t that obvious, but he was still able to record the impressive win four months after the loss to Cro Cop.

“Having a first loss and then looking to bounce back from it adds a lot of pressure,” Sanchez said. “On top of that I had to go to my opponent’s hometown. I had never flown overseas before. It was an eight to nine hour time difference. I had a tough time adapting to that. I flew in six days prior to the fight, but itwas tough on my body. Also I came into the fight with a pulled groin, and suffered an injury in the first round. Robinson is a very good boxer and strained cartilage in my ribs with his inside punching. I was able to turn the fight around and stop him with some elbows, but I wish I could’ve been 100 percent for the fight. No excuses, he fought a great fight, but I wasn’t 100 percent for that one.”

For this fight, he says he’s finally healthy and looking to jump all over his opponent Palelei (8-1). He also admits that he has some newly added drive for this bout now that he has two month old Brody Sanchez in his corner.

“I just had my firstborn son two months ago,” Sanchez said. “It changes the way I look at everything inside the Octagon and in life. There’s a lot more meaning in what I do. Now I have a family. I have a little boy. This is how he’s going to eat. I’m fighting to put food on the table for him. Now when I train and when I fight he’s in the back of my head. Little Brody gives me drive. You’re going to see a more tenacious Eddie Sanchez. I’m going to come out there like Wanderlei Silva. This is Palelei’s first UFC fight and I’m going to pay him a great welcome.”

Sanchez mentioned Wanderlei Silva, a fighter he considers his idol. Silva fights Chuck Liddell on the same card Sanchez fights Palelei. It’s an added treat for an already special night for Sanchez.

“I looked up to Wanderlei and now we’re fighting on the same day,” Sanchez said. “This is a dream come true. I’ve met him before and he’s a cool guy and a very ferocious fighter. I think he’s going to put it on Chuck.”

Although Sanchez loves the sport and is moving up quickly in the UFC heavyweight ranks, the 25 year-old from La Jolla, California, wants Brody to not follow in Wanderlei Silva’s footsteps, but in his footsteps. But isn’t he a fighter as well? Yes he is, but those aren’t the footsteps he wants Brody to follow in. The footsteps he speaks of are taken in cleats. Before getting into mixed martial arts, Sanchez was a pretty good baseball player and played for two junior colleges before playing on the Tampa Bay Rays scout team.

“It’s in our blood to play baseball,” Sanchez said. “My father is from the Dominican Republic and played baseball all his life and even played a bit for the San Diego Padres. The little “Manic Hispanic” will be a threat if he decides to fight, but I rather he be playing third base and be the next A-Rod. My girlfriend played softball, so it’s in his genes. I can’t say I’d give up fighting in the UFC if they offered me a contract to play in the Major Leagues, but if they asked me to play I’d play. I love baseball.”

After leaving the sport of baseball, Sanchez started training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, amateur wrestling and boxing. He then started fighting some smaller shows without knowing much about the sport.

“I was totally blind fighting mixed martial arts at first,” Sanchez recalls. “I was fighting guys with a lot of experience, and here I was, a kid who had been doing this for only a short time. I was able to beat them in impressive fashion though and then I got the call from the UFC and here I am. In a short time I was able to beat really good fighters like Mario Neto and Colin Robinson, who had been doing this a heck of a longer time than I have.”

It took a while for his parents to get adapted to him leaving the baseball diamond and jumping inside an Octagon where no fastballs or curveballs are thrown at you, but instead elbows, knees and punches are coming at you with bad intentions.

He said it was hard on his mother, who was born in Mexico, to adapt to it because she’s a registered nurse and she‘s used to seeing some pretty bad things. Also the fact that Eddie is her firstborn son raises concerns for this mother, who always has some advice for her son.

“She wasn’t too into it at first,” said Sanchez. “She would ask me why I didn’t become a doctor like I wanted to when I was younger, but I told her that this is what I wanted to do, and when she saw the sacrifice I was putting into it, and that I made it into the UFC, which was my goal, she accepted it, and so did my father. I finally started being responsible and making a good living, and now that they see I’m on the right path they couldn’t be any happier.”

Sanchez says he’s also proud to be one of the Hispanics in the sport. He represents both The Dominican Republic and Mexico when he walks into the Octagon, and he’d like to see UFC President Dana White bring an event to Mexico to influence more Mexicans and other Hispanics to get into the sport. He also wants to turn his game on and take the title of top Mexican-American from another fighter.

“Roger Huerta, who’s a buddy of mine, has the spotlight on him now,” Sanchez said. “I need to get some of that spotlight for myself.”

Fighting in the wide open heavyweight division, Sanchez is sure to get ample opportunity to do just that.

“There are good fighters in the division like (Antonio Rodrigo) Nogueira and Tim Sylvia. I’m extremely positive about my upcoming fight, and my future in the sport. I think in the next three to four fights I’ll be one of the top heavyweights. Right now I’m trying to get into contention, and it all begins with my fight on the 29th.”</div>

 

True but losing to CroCop is nothing to be embarrassed about.

We'll see how he does this time and if he can hang with the "elite".

 

UFC's HW division isn't looking to hot right now. Something is going on with Arlovski and it looks like they're sitting him out until the end of his contract. He hasn't been the same fighter since the back to back losses to Tim Sylvia.
Sylvia is a fight not to lose fighter and it's frustrating to see him whimp his way to wins.
Cro-Cop is not adjusting to the UFC very well ( I don't believe it's the pee test in his case either)
Nog didn't look impressive in his first fight
Randy wanted to cement his legacy by beating Fedor (or more likely look washed up) and it looks like he's dun with the UFC
Gabriel Gonzaga is still an enigma IMO but could be the future of the divison who can say.
Brandon Vera is too small and found out the hard way.
Werdum looked as hesitant as AA in their fight and that's never a good thing.
ummm did I miss anyone?

 

oh yeah Chieck 'don't put me on the ground' Congo, I forgot about him. I think Hearring is back to the drawing board and resting up (self imposed).
Lesnar should be interesting. I know they take a beating in wrestling but getting punched is a different story. I'm anxious to see what happens the first time he gets clocked in the octagon

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (speeds @ Jan 3 2008, 03:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Celtic Fan @ Jan 3 2008, 12:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>oh yeah Chieck 'don't put me on the ground' Congo, I forgot about him. I think Hearring is back to the drawing board and resting up (self imposed).
Lesnar should be interesting. I know they take a beating in wrestling but getting punched is a different story. I'm anxious to see what happens the first time he gets clocked in the octagon</div>

Tim Sylvia claims he trained with him and calls Lesnar a baby, so we'll have to wait and see if that is the case.

But that's what they say about BJJ guys, and it applies for wrestlers, too. Take a black belt and hit him in the face and he's a brown belt. Hit him again and he's a purple belt. Etc..
</div>
absolutely, but so many young guys are doing it all and have adjusted to being hit and taken off their feet. I'm certain brock is tough, lets see if he can take getting punched.

good golly if that man passes a pee test, he's gotta go to the top of the list for toughest workouts. They did a training montage several years back when he was in the WWE and it looked insane.

 

UFC's HW division doesn't have a clear best guy.

I don't think Randy is the best, I was really surprized at his win over Gonzaga, because Gonzaga had a totally different energy against CroCop.

Gonzaga
Lesnar
Kongo
Arlovski
Tim Silvia
Crocop should drop a weight class.