For at least the time being, Diego Sanchez can rule out at least one potential suitor for his services.
According to a report from MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, Bellator is not interested in acquiring free agent Diego Sanchez, this coming from Coker himself. Check out Heck’s revelation below:
“Scott Coker just told me that Bellator will not be looking to add Diego Sanchez to the roster now that he is a free agent.”
Diego Sanchez has only been a free agent for roughly a week, so this isn’t the end of the world for him, and there may still be plenty of interested parties who will come forward. Frankly, he may not be doing himself any favors by broadcasting conspiracy theories of his previous employer possibly murdering him down the line. Such rhetoric might just have a negative effect on the interest level of potential future employers.
Diego Sanchez is currently 39 years old and has gone 2-2 in his last four fights. The original “Ultimate Fighter” made it clear that he is still looking to compete following his UFC release by tagging many combat sports promotions, including Bellator, letting them know that he was “free at last” in an Instagram story.
Coker has recently said that he is looking to get away from signing aging talent, explaining why he was not interested in signing Yoel Romero last year by stating:
“We got a call from (his) agent and originally we just passed,” Coker said. “If you look at our roster and how many fighters we have on this roster and how many fights we’re going to do, there are only so many TV slots. We have kind of gotten away from signing the OGs we used to sign back in the day. That’s because guys like A.J. (McKee) are coming up. Ilima-Lei (Macfarlane) is developing into a main event fighter.”
Of course, as we know, Coker would later backtrack on these remarks by signing Yoel Romero. So perhaps whatever forces that caused Coker to shift his thinking back then will once again happen with Sanchez, especially if the Jedi mind tricks of Sanchez’s manager/coach Joshua Fabia are utilized on the veteran’s behalf.
Where would you like to see Diego Sanchez wind up next?
