UFC welterweight, Diego Sanchez, is eying a 2012 return as he continues to recover from a hand injury according to mmaweekly.com.

Sanchez has been mending a hand injury suffered in training that has kept him sidelined for much of 2011, his only bout this year was a unanimous decision victory over Martin Kampmann at UFC Live in March.

This same injury also forced Sanchez to pull out of his bout with Matt Hughes at UFC 135.

"Diego's hand, I want to say, is about 75 to 80 percent healed up. He's lifting weights on it, he's taking really good care of it, he's rehabbing it hard. He's really trying to get back as soon as possible...I estimate him coming back either the first part of February or the later part of February," Malki Kawa, Sanchez's manager, said.

In the coming weeks, Kawa states that the exact date of Sanchez's return will be better formulated as Sanchez begins grappling again. It is during this phase that will determine the degree the injury has healed and whether or not Sanchez will be confident using that hand.

Looking ahead, many interesting match ups await Sanchez in his return. Although all speculation at this point, rumors have placed Jake Ellenberger into consideration.

"We're already starting to talk about certain opponents or certain fights. There's some pretty cool ones out there for him. That's something we'll probably get done in the next couple weeks," Kawa said.