Due to the fact that he’s been in some of the most brutal wars ever seen in the Octagon during his 42-fight career, you’d think that Diego Sanchez would at least have some concerns about potential brain damage, but instead he claims not to believe that CTE actually exists.
“You think [that CTE is real?” Sanchez wrote on social media. “How do you know you watch a movie? You read a artical (sp)? There is no proof of CTE just another mental weapon to effect the minds of the weak! Like a placebo effect in a negative way! I have no CTE or any signs of any brain damage am I talking like Nick Diaz no I’m speaking better than I ever have!! Maybe I’m the cure for CTE! WAY OUTSIDE THE BOX”
Sanchez has always been known to be somewhat of a quirky character, but he has appeared to be behaving more oddly in recent times, both inside and outside the Octagon, since leaving the JacksonWink gym in favor of ‘life coach’ Joshua Fabia.
And it’s worth pointing out that a few years earlier, Sanchez did appear to have concerns about brain damage, describing to Bleacher Report how a concussion he suffered as the result of being sucker-punched in training left him fearing for his health.
“Christmas is coming up and, financially, this is a fight we were planning on,” Sanchez recalls thinking afterwards as he prepared for his next fight. “But I was worried about a TBI [traumatic brain injury]. I had to rest and heal. I couldn’t be hit again. The thought crossed my mind, ‘What if I can just never be hit again?
For the record, at the time Sanchez was coming off his first ever KO loss against Al Iaquinta, then suffered the concussion in training, and after deciding to still go ahead with his next fight with Matt Brown was knocked out again in the first round.
With that being said, Sanchez has won three of his past four fights since then and hasn’t suffered another loss to strikes, but at 38-years-old questions certainly have to be asked about what potential damage he may have suffered over the years.
