After being with the UFC for nearly 20 years, Diego Sanchez is a free agent.
The news was first revealed from World Lethwei Championship fighter Dave Leduc, who revealed on the
Joe Rogan Experience MMA podcast that the 37-year-old told him that he wasn’t in the UFC anymore (transcript courtesy of
BJPenn.com):
“I got a message from Diego Sanchez the other day,” Leduc said.
“He said, ‘Dave, I’m not in the UFC anymore’. Whoops, maybe I shouldn’t have [said] that. [Sanchez] said, I’m out of my contract, do you want to get me a Lethwei fight in WLC?”
However, Sanchez does set the record straight on
The Luke Thomas Show by revealing that while he is currently a free agent, that’s doesn’t mean that he’s done the UFC (transcript courtesy of
MMA Junkie):
“
Listen, ‘done with the UFC’ never ever was spoken out of the words of my mouth,” Sanchez said.
“But, as far as being done with my contract, and I assume that is the misinterpretation that Dave was speaking about, my contract was at an end, and it is at an end, and I am a free agent.”
There has been no official statement yet from the UFC about the fighter’s status with the promotion. However, Sanchez recently posted a message on Instagram wanting a fight with Anthony Pettis, so it wouldn't be a surprise if the Ultimate Fighter winner signed another contract with the company soon.