Sanchez Reunites with Jackson’s Academy

It was in April that Diego Sanchez first held a news conference to announce his plans to return to Albuquerque, N.M., to live and train. The theme that day was simple: "A Return to the Roots."

As far as returning to his hometown, the statement was true, but it wasn't until mid August that the UFC welterweight truly returned to his MMA roots.

"The Nightmare" has returned to Jackson's MMA in preparation for his upcoming bout with Paulo Thiago at UFC 121 on Oct. 23 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Sanchez conducted his previous fight camp through the Albuquerque Kickboxing Academy under the guidance of Lenny Lovato Sr., a state champion wrestling coach at an area high school.

After “The Ultimate Fighter" winner suffered a surprising and one-sided loss to John Hathaway at UFC 114 in May, he determined that it was time to go back to train with Greg Jackson and his highly regarded collection of fighters, where Sanchez's career began.

"It was just as simple as me coming back," Sanchez said. "Greg always had an open door for me and open arms for me. It was just a matter of making the decision, and I just followed my heart. Greg was the one who started my career. He knows me better than any other coach."

When Sanchez first decided to return to Albuquerque after spending nearly three years in California, he wasn't quite ready to come back to his original team.

"It was a personal choice because I was in between moving. I still had my life in California; I hadn't moved back completely yet," he said. "I had just come back for the training camp. I wanted to try to do it on my own, try to run a camp on my own and be my own coach. I figured out that there's nothing better than having a good team and a good coach behind you."

Sanchez experienced great success under Jackson, winning the first season of "The Ultimate Fighter" and racking up six straight victories in the UFC before a loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 69 in 2007.

Later that year Sanchez left New Mexico to live and train in San Diego. He also tried his hand at the 155-pound division, eventually earning a title shot against B.J. Penn at UFC 109 last December.

After losing via fifth-round stoppage to Penn, Sanchez moved back up to 170 pounds and was given the little-known Hathaway as a first opponent. The Albuquerque native cites a lack of focus as his main problem in losing a fight to someone who entered the Octagon with just three UFC bouts under his belt that night.

"I took my opponent lightly. I thought I was just gonna go in there and knock him out. I didn't make the right decisions in training camp or diet. I didn't cut out the things I should have cut out. It showed in my weight cut and it showed in my performance," he said.

Whatever differences there might have been between the popular fighter and the renowned training camp, they weren't irreconcilable. Over the years, Jackson has calmly answered questions about the split by expressing respect for one of his first pupils. When Sanchez was ready to come back, all he had to do was ask.

"He just felt he needed to be at a different place at a different time, and now he feels that he needs to be back home -- so he's back home," Jackson said.

A couple months remain until Sanchez meets Thiago, who owns notable victories over Mike Swick and Koscheck during his UFC tenure. That allows Jackson some time to correct the holes in Sanchez's game, although he believes it could take longer than that.

"He has a lot of work to do -- a lot of work to do," Jackson said. "But he's really receptive; he's coachable. So now it's just changing his style back and improving what we've already got.

"There needs to be some changes and it might take us a fight or two to get to those changes, but that's what we've got to do."

Sanchez says he's "100 percent" back in Albuquerque this time around. He's moving into a house just outside of Albuquerque, away from the distractions of the city. Both Sanchez and the gym have changed over the years, but the common goal remains.

"The gym has come a long way since I had left," Sanchez said. "It just felt good to be back home -- this is my home away from home since I was a teenager growing up over here... Greg's come a long way. So have I. Now we're back together, and we're ready to take on whoever the UFC puts in front of us."

This article was updated Aug. 25 at 12:29 a.m. to correct that Sanchez was stopped by Penn; the fight did not go to a decision.