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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
"Coming to Japan was always a great goal and a dream of mine. Growing up, fighting through King of the Cage and even before the UFC and being on The Ultimate Figher, I always had a dream of coming to fight in wherever fighting most prominent in Pride. It was something that I always dreamed of doing, and I was always like, well, my career kept going and going and going, I guess I'm just never going to make it out there.
I guess when I decided to make the move back to 155, I looked at opponents, and I figured, what's a better opportunity than to come out here to Japan, live one of my dreams, and fight one of the greatest fighters to come out of Japan in his own hometown? That's a perfect situation for war and a great battle and that's what I live for and that's what I came out here to do."
-Diego Sanchez talks about living out a dream this Saturday when he fights Takanori Gomi in Japan at UFC on Fuel 8 (via MMAFighting.com).
Penick's Analysis: That Sanchez-Gomi fight is an extremely exciting bout, and Sanchez's return to the lightweight division is cause for excitement as well. Though he was completely outclassed in his title bout with B.J. Penn at 155 lbs., he looked fantastic in his other fights, and if he can get to the weight with less issues than he had in his first run it could be a very good thing for him. Getting a chance to return against a fighter like Gomi is the perfect opportunity for him to pull off something massively exciting as well, and to do so in Japan could make for a really cool experience for him. A lot of fighters who came up watching Pride without a chance to fight in Japan are really interested in getting that chance, and the UFC's plans to continue running events there will open up those opportunities for more in the future.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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