Quarterly Rankings
A welterweight bout between "The Ultimate Fighter" season one winner Diego Sanchez (21-4) and Paulo Thiago (13-2) is expected to take place at UFC 121 on October 23 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Sanchez broke the news to PennyJoMMA.com on Facebook. He also revealed that he has moved back to New Mexico and now trains at Albuquerque Kickboxing & Mixed Martial Arts, which is not affiliated with Greg Jackson.
Sanchez is currently on a two-fight losing streak, suffering losses to B.J. Penn in a UFC lightweight title bout and most recently John Hathaway at UFC 114 in May in what was his return to the 170-pound welterweight division. Prior to the losses, he won four straight bouts, including wins in his first two fights as a lightweight against Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida.
Sanchez has put together a solid 10-4 UFC record during his five-year tenure with the promotion, scoring other notable Octagon wins over the likes of Kenny Florian, Nick Diaz, John Alessio, Karo Parisyan and Joe Riggs.
Thiago is coming off an unanimous decision loss to Martin Kampmann at UFC 115 last month. He previously won back-to-back fights over Jacob Volkmann and Mike Swick.
Thiago now sports a 3-2 UFC record, scoring a shocking upset win over Josh Koscheck in his Octagon debut at UFC 95 last February, which was then followed by his first career loss in his second Octagon appearance against Koscheck's teammate Jon Fitch at UFC 100 in July.
Though not officially announced yet, UFC 121 will likely be headlined by a UFC heavyweight title bout between current champion Brock Lesnar and top contender, Cain Velasquez.
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