‘Jedi’ Diego Sanchez says UFC has written him off ahead of Chiesa bout

“I ain’t this old guy, man. I’m not the old guy, I’m the Jedi.”

Diego Sanchez has gone full Diego Sanchez ahead of his welterweight bout with Michael Chiesa tomorrow night at UFC 239, delivering an epic, one of a kind interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, which you can watch in full below.

Sanchez went off on a tangent during the interview, but one of the things that stood out most was his accusation that UFC had written him off ahead of the Chiesa bout and how, at 37-years-old, ‘The Nightmare’ has finally been able to channel his inner Jedi (perhaps another nickname change is in order).

“Michael Chiesa has written me off as many other men have written me off,” Sanchez said, per BJPenn.com’s Natasha Hooper. “As the Vegas oddsmakers have written me off, as the UFC has time and time again and time again written me off. As they have written me off to not be the Ultimate Fighter winner. I have been written off my whole career. And he [Chiesa] writes me off as this old man.”

“I ain’t this old guy, man,” he added. “I’m not the old guy, I’m the Jedi. You’re gonna see a change. You don’t get the old man, you get the real man, the wise man.”

Sanchez, winner of The Ultimate Fighter season one, last fought at UFC 235 where he made mincemeat of welterweight hopeful Mickey Gall at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, finishing his opponent with a barrage of ground-and-pound in the second round.

UFC 239: Jones vs. Santos, which features Sanchez vs. Chiesa as the opening bout of the main card, takes place tomorrow night, July 6 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.