Jake Matthews of Australia punches Diego Sanchez in their welterweight bout during UFC 253 inside Flash Forum on UFC Fight Island on September 27, 2020 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Diego Sanchez didn’t have the best of times against Jake Matthews but he did leave an impression on his rival
Jake Matthews continued his winning streak in the UFC after defeating the legendary Diego Sanchez.
This UFC 253 fight had Sanchez as the underdog and the former Ultimate Fighter winner lost the clash via unanimous decision.
This took Matthews to 17 wins and four losses in his MMA career. The Celtic Kid is just 26 and still has the best years of his career ahead of him.
Sanchez, for his part, is slowly moving towards the end of his career. The 38-year-old is 30-13 in his MMA career and won the first Ultimate Fighter show.
Matthews spoke about this and was honoured to face the UFC legend too:
“I just beat Diego Sanchez, that’s pretty surreal.
“I said before the fight that I’ll wait after to let it sink in, and it’s definitely sinking in now.”
Matthews also brought up watching Sanchez on the first Ultimate Fighter.
“I was 11 years old watching the Ultimate Fighter 1 when Diego won and I have had the ultimate honour of fighting him, so it’s awesome.”
The 38-year-old had spoken prior to the fight that he didn’t know what the future held for him. Sanchez is one of the toughest UFC stars ever but at 38, he doesn’t have many years left at the top of the game.
Nevertheless, the American has three wins and two losses from his last five fights. It will be interesting to see what happens next with the 38-year-old.
He could return for another bout as he is one of the most experienced stars on the UFC roster. As for Matthews, he could be thinking of a title fight in the future.
He still needs a few more wins under his belt, but this was an excellent performance from the 26-year-old.
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