Deigo Sanchez is apparently thinking of moving back up to the welterweight division after failing to capture the lightweight title from BJ Penn in his last fight. The fight was Sanchez’s third in the UFC lightweight division, where he had gone 2-1.
Sachez left a message on his Facebook account this morning saying he was “going back up to 170”. The message has since been removed, but the move would be an understandable one on Sanchez’s part given the unlikely prospect of him beating BJ Penn should he get a rematch down the line.
Sanchez’s fight with Penn at UFC 107 was very one-sided and Sanchez has a difficult cut to make 155. If there is no prospect of him becoming the lightweight champion in the near future then he is unlikely to want to go through those gruelling cuts for the sake of being number two in the division (even that status would require a fight with Kenny Florian).
Sanchez was on a two fight winning streak at welterweight before dropping down. But in his two fights prior to that he had lost to perennial welterweight contenders Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck. Witht eh 175 title out of reach, Sanchez set his heart on capturing the lightweight belt.
If he returns to welterweight he is entering choppier waters than the ones he left. Sanchez could find himself fighting Koscheck again, or rising starts like Anthony Johnson and Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley. If Dan Hardy is unsuccessful in his efforts to wrest the belt from Geroges St. Pierre, that match is also an obvious one.
At time of writing, Sanchez’s Facebook message had been removed and there was no corresponding message on his Twitter or Myspace accounts.
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Originally Posted by SPX
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