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Ultimate Fighting Championship legend Diego Sanchez has not received jail time for his offenses last year.
In July 2025, Sanchez was arrested for firing a pistol out of his window while riding past an automobile accident on an Albuquerque, New Mexico, highway. The arrest reports verified the weapon in question and identified recently spent bullet casings, while the driver, friend Derrick Montoya, admitted to the arresting officer that Sanchez had discharged his weapon and laughed about it.
The prosecutors sought a sentence of two years in prison based on the fourth-degree felony charge of discharging a firearm at or from a motor vehicle. He was also charged with a misdemeanor of negligent use of a deadly weapon, but per MMAJunkie, the latter was dismissed when Sanchez agreed to a guilty plea for the former.
Per local outlet KRQE, Sanchez was ultimately sentenced with five years of supervised probation, while he also will be required to complete 800 hours of community service. As he took a plea agreement, there is no plan on an appeal. Instead, the longtime fighter took responsibility for his actions, saying so in a pair of statements following the sentencing hearing.
“It was a foolish decision,” Sanchez said. “I look back on it, and I own it, and I take responsibility for it, and now I won’t be able to have guns no more, and that’s the price I have to pay for my wrong decision.”
He continued, “All I can do is take accountability, own it, and spread positivity to the youth and the next generation to change these ways. Not to be shooting out windows like cowboys.”
Sanchez exploded onto the scene as an undefeated welterweight, winning his first 11 matches including a triumph over Jorge Santiago, when he appeared on the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2005. “The Nightmare” won out the middleweight bracket of the show, tapping Alex Karalexis and Josh Rafferty before claiming a decision against Josh Koscheck to reach the finals. A quick rear-naked choke of Kenny Florian awarded him the vaunted six-figure contract and trophy from the UFC brass.
The New Mexico native went on to move down to lightweight, where he picked up a number of post-fight bonuses and challenge B.J. Penn for the 155-pound strap in 2009. Sanchez ultimately succumbed to a doctor stoppage in the fifth frame. The bonus magnet bounced around divisions, even going as far down as featherweight on one occasion, and ended up departing the Las Vegas-based promotion in 2020. The 44-year-old briefly stopped off at Eagle FC in 2022, tested his mettle in bare-knuckle boxing the year after and was linked to a boxing match with John Makdessi in 2025.
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In July 2025, Sanchez was arrested for firing a pistol out of his window while riding past an automobile accident on an Albuquerque, New Mexico, highway. The arrest reports verified the weapon in question and identified recently spent bullet casings, while the driver, friend Derrick Montoya, admitted to the arresting officer that Sanchez had discharged his weapon and laughed about it.
The prosecutors sought a sentence of two years in prison based on the fourth-degree felony charge of discharging a firearm at or from a motor vehicle. He was also charged with a misdemeanor of negligent use of a deadly weapon, but per MMAJunkie, the latter was dismissed when Sanchez agreed to a guilty plea for the former.
The price I have to pay
Per local outlet KRQE, Sanchez was ultimately sentenced with five years of supervised probation, while he also will be required to complete 800 hours of community service. As he took a plea agreement, there is no plan on an appeal. Instead, the longtime fighter took responsibility for his actions, saying so in a pair of statements following the sentencing hearing.
“It was a foolish decision,” Sanchez said. “I look back on it, and I own it, and I take responsibility for it, and now I won’t be able to have guns no more, and that’s the price I have to pay for my wrong decision.”
He continued, “All I can do is take accountability, own it, and spread positivity to the youth and the next generation to change these ways. Not to be shooting out windows like cowboys.”
Sanchez exploded onto the scene as an undefeated welterweight, winning his first 11 matches including a triumph over Jorge Santiago, when he appeared on the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2005. “The Nightmare” won out the middleweight bracket of the show, tapping Alex Karalexis and Josh Rafferty before claiming a decision against Josh Koscheck to reach the finals. A quick rear-naked choke of Kenny Florian awarded him the vaunted six-figure contract and trophy from the UFC brass.
The New Mexico native went on to move down to lightweight, where he picked up a number of post-fight bonuses and challenge B.J. Penn for the 155-pound strap in 2009. Sanchez ultimately succumbed to a doctor stoppage in the fifth frame. The bonus magnet bounced around divisions, even going as far down as featherweight on one occasion, and ended up departing the Las Vegas-based promotion in 2020. The 44-year-old briefly stopped off at Eagle FC in 2022, tested his mettle in bare-knuckle boxing the year after and was linked to a boxing match with John Makdessi in 2025.
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