At UFC 166, in what was described by many as the “Fight of the Year”, Diego Sanchez and Gilbert Melendez engaged in a memorable war, which will have Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fans talking about the event for a long time to come.

Melendez won the fight via unanimous decision, but for me that almost became irrelevant as the fight itself was something special that transcended the actual outcome of the bout. Both men showed tremendous amounts of heart and gave the fans a fight that will be remembered for years to come.

It’s rare when two fighting styles go together well and produce a matchup that has you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Sometimes we predict that we are going to see an epic fight because on paper the two fighters have the attributes to produce something exceptional, in many cases we are horribly wrong, but not this time.

Diego Sanchez is no stranger when it comes to being involved in memorable fights and after so many taxing wars you cannot help but question if the 31-year-old can keep it up. Here is what Diego had to say at the UFC 166 post-fight press conference:

“I was built for this fighting stuff, I’m 31 years old and I’m just feeling primed. I had a good time, I had fun out there with Gilbert, I’ve been waiting, those are the types of fights you wait for you’re whole career because when you’re an old man you are gonna look back and be like ‘yea, that was fun’. I gave the fans an amazing, entertaining fight and that’s what I do it for, I fight for the fans and this sport,” – Diego Sanchez.

I felt that the fight ended up being pretty close as Sanchez really piled on the pressure in the third round. However, Melendez did have the upper hand in the first and second rounds, managing to inflict a considerable amount of damage to Sanchez’s face by opening up a nasty cut above his left eye that would have seen many fights stopped. Sanchez made it clear that he felt the fight was a lot closer then the judges ended up scoring it and thought it would have been good for the fight to have gone on for two extra rounds.

“Eh, Rocky didn’t get the decision in the first fight, but you know what, he dropped him and I dropped him (Melendez). I felt it was close to being a draw, I got some good take-downs. The fight was close, they gave him the unanimous decision, but I thought the fight was closer, I thought it could have been a draw. That’s one of those fights where you need five rounds for two warriors to really dig deep and go to the finish.” - Diego Sanchez.

It was great to be able to witness the fight between Sanchez and Melendez, and it is great to see Sanchez back fighting after some problems with injuries. I cannot wait to see Diego in action again, but I am also looking forward to seeing Gilbert Melendez back in the octagon. Both men gave MMA fans around the world something special this past weekend, making a massive contribution to what I feel was the best UFC event of the year so far.

Stay close to The MMA Review (themmareview.co.uk) for all the latest MMA news.

Jay Cee – @JayCeeMMA

Follow “The MMA Review” on TWITTER and FACEBOOK!!!