The following is a new article from today’s Las Vegas-Review Journal:
Sanchez scores thrilling win
UFC title contender wears down Parisyan in fast-paced match
By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL
A few minutes after winning perhaps the best Ultimate Fighting Championship match since Forrest Griffin defeated Stephan Bonnar in a wild slugfest on April 9, 2005, Diego Sanchez had his mind squarely on business.
Sanchez (18-0) scored a unanimous decision Thursday over Karo Parisyan at Red Rock Resort in an entertaining battle that left UFC president Dana White practically giddy.
But seconds after signing for his paycheck, dollar signs danced in Sanchez’s head.
“I have to get this outfit up on eBay,” the welterweight said. “You have to make a few bucks anyway you can. And after that fight, there’s probably going to be a lot of bids.”
If the bidding is as fast-paced as the fight, Sanchez will make a tidy little bonus for auctioning his gloves, trunks and hand wraps.
Sanchez and Parisyan are regarded as perhaps the UFC’s best young fighters, and they appeared to step it up a notch Thursday.
Sanchez, who said he hopes to get a fight at home in Albuquerque, N.M., appears to be in line for a title match against the winner of the Sept. 23 bout between champion Matt Hughes and challenger Georges St. Pierre.
“I beat the No. 3 guy in the world, so what else is there?” Sanchez asked.
It was Sanchez’s frequently criticized stand-up skills that proved to be the difference. He landed a hard right uppercut seconds into the fight that began a process that left Parisyan’s eyes swollen shut.
Parisyan (23-4) scored several effective judo throws in the first round, and despite bleeding heavily from the nose and mouth, he appeared to be in control by round’s end.
But Parisyan wasn’t able to keep up the pace and Sanchez slowly assumed control. The 24-year-old Sanchez was so in charge of the final round that judge Glenn Trowbridge scored it 10-8 for him.
“It went pretty well for the first two rounds, but I gassed a little bit and he got the best of it,” Parisyan said. “It’s really disappointing because it’s a fight I could have won. I have to go back and figure it out and come back and win it next time.”
But he’ll have to make a trip to the dentist before he hits the gym again. As the fighters were in a clinch along the fence in the third round, Sanchez crushed Parisyan with a knee to the face. A tooth came flying out of Parisyan’s mouth.
Later, Sanchez had a small wound on his knee where the contact was made. Shortly after the knee, Sanchez went for a rear naked choke and nearly cinched it.
By the end, as the crowd was in a near-frenzy, it was all Sanchez.
“I’ve worked so hard on my (stand-up skills) and I’m a lot more complete fighter,” Sanchez said. “I hit him with some shots, and I hurt my knuckle I hit him so hard. He was hurt. He was bloody. The very first jab I hit him with, I broke his nose. I was confident.
“He threw me a couple of times, but all that did was to wake me up.”
• NOTE — White had announced July 8 that the winner of the Aug. 26 light heavyweight title fight between Chuck Liddell and Babalu Sobral would meet Wanderlei Silva, a star in the Pride Fighting Championship. But White has had difficulty negotiating a deal with Pride and said Thursday a Silva fight would not occur.
