Myles Jury vs. Diego Sanchez Set For UFC 171

Good fight.

Myles is about to take a huge step up in competition, but this will tell us where he'a truly at in the lightweight division.

Source: https://twitter.com/ufcnews/status/411174736991748097

Diego Sanchez UFC ‏@DiegoSanchezUFC 20m

Nothings for sure yet im just trying to get the right fight.

If Myles Jury beats Diego Sanchez, he's on his way to being one of the most overrated fighters in the lightweight division.

sick fight. can't wait for this one . hope Jury wins since i got him in my fantasy league lol.

Sanchez needs a win

I'm really surprised at this, if it's real.  After his fight with Gilbert Melendez, one would think that Diego is entitled to someone higher on the food chain.  Why would they give him a good fighter who is ranked so far lower?  

This match doesn't make any sense.  

Diego should be fighting Nate Diaz and Myles Jury should be fighting Jordan Mein.

@Bill Burgess | Why should he fight Nate Diaz or someone in or on the brink of being a top 10 Lightweight fighter. I think his fight with Gilbert Melendez was amazing, but let's not forget that before Diego Sanchez landed the uppercut in that wild exchange in the 3rd round, Gilbert Melendez was beating him with ease. I think Diego Sanchez chances of being or even beating a top 10 Lightweight are far behind him, he just a stepping stone for younger guys like Myles Jury and other young, up and coming Lightweights

* Edited at 12.13.2013, 11:30 AM ET *

Well, I am pretty sure that it is for real since the UFC announced it. Nate Diaz? Are you kidding me? Diego just lost a very exciting, but fairly lopsided decision to a top 10 opponent and Diaz just destroyed a guy who has been at the top of the division for years. Diego shouldn't be fighting anyone in the top 15 next and this fight is a good test for both of them. Jury is undefeated remember.

Diego continues to get so little respect.  

Look at who he's fought and look at who Jury has fought.  Since when is the quality of competition no longer relevant?

@Bill agreeed. I don't understand the "downplay" of Diego Sanchez lately? This guy has put on some WARS over the years and still puts on amazing fights against high level competition.

@Bill Burgess
There's no doubt that Sanchez has fought the better competition.  But if it wasn't for bogus judging against Kampmann and Gomi, Sanchez would be on a four fight losing streak and 1-6 in his last 7 fights, whereas Jury is 4-0 in the UFC.

It's time for Sanchez to take a step down and it's time for Jury to take a step up--which is exactly what this fight gives both guys.

For years, GSP was criticized for fighting 'safe'.  Diego brings it and gets minimized.  MMA fans are impossible to please. 

If everyone had Diego's attitude and fighting style, it would be too good to be true.  Heaven on earth.  

You never fully appreciate a good thing until you don't have it anymore.

If Myles Jury had fought the guys Diego had, he wouldn't be undefeated.

I wanted Diego in a 5 round main event! He always asks about 2 more rounds when the fight is over. Nate vs Diego could have easily headlined one of those 500 cards next year.

This fight is meh, hope Diego goes ham on Jury though...

Go die go.  Nice posting.  You rock.

I understand everyone wanting Diego to fight better competition comp., but everyone's also overlooking Myles move up in competition.

Diego has basically been gifted a lot of those decisions he won and Myles is undefeated 14-0 and undefeated 4-0 in the UFC and Diego isn't an elite top 10 lightweight, so this fight makes perfect sense for both fighters.

While I don't believe Diego's won a fight in three years, the guy has been fighting top competition for a long time. If he dominates here, he'll just prove his worth at 155. Jury needs a step up as well, so I don't have a problem with this. I like Jury, but I'll probably pick Diego here.

Diego has lost his last 4 fights (yes, you heard me). Step up? Sure he showed heart surviving vs. Gil and nearly pulled one out of his ass with that uppercut in the 3rd, but let's not forget he was dominated for 85% of the fight.

Where exactly do you step up from Gil (who's #2 lightweight in the world, imo)?

Jury is on the way up and Diego, exciting as he may be, is on his way down ... this is a perfect chance for him to stop that decline and get a better footing in the division before talking about bigger fights (as he delusionally tends to do).


EDIT::: Just read the rest of the thread and noticed I've blatantly repeated everything everyone said, so ignore. I'll just finish with this, Jury should fight Mein, @Bill?!?!?!?!??! Mein is a welterweight (your fav division) and scheduled to fight Gunni.

* Edited at 12.13.2013, 6:22 PM ET *

Yeah, Mein is a WW, so I misspoke.  For some reason, I had Myles Jury listed as a WW.  My bad.  But all this Sanchez minimizing is discouraging.  

Miles Jury is undefeated in the UFC because he hasn't fought an elite fighter yet.  There is no way in the world that you can compare his opponents (Chris Saunders, Mike Johnson, Ramsey Nijem & Mike Ricci with those Diego has fought.

Sure, Diego is getting old.  But so what?  Would Miles Jury be undefeated if he had fought BJ Penn in his prime?  Would he have done as well against Kampmann? 

Diego is not undefeated because he has fought BJ, Jon Fitch, Ellenberger and in his prime he DID beat Kenny Florian, Nick Diaz & Karo Parisyan as well as Luigi Fioravanti, Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida.

It's no disrespect to Myles to not put him in Diego's class yet.  He hasn't earned it yet.  Maybe he will, maybe he won't, but why put Diego down just because Myles is a good man on the way up.  

Let's stop this throwing away of our valued veterans just because you want to support younger guys.  It's not warranted, it's disrespectful, unappreciative, inappropriate and unnecessary.  So just quit it, ok?  And grow up in the process.

Dude, you're going ape-**** without reason, fighting Jury isn't devaluing Diego ... he's coming off a loss (in which he was dominated), Myles is coming off 4 wins in a row against solid opposition (heck, he dominated MJ who just dominated Lauzon and knocked him out of the top 10).

That's what you do in these situations, you give the valued vet a step down to regather his bearings and the streaking prospect a step up to see where he's really at.

No outrage needed, no disrespect to your beloved Diego Sanchez, just matchmaking 101.

Diego's awesome, ok? Don't get your panties in a bunch, and yes, Jury is ranked lower but that doesn't change the fact that Diego, though being exciting, hasn't really piled on the impressive wins. He's got two VERY suspicious decision wins and lost twice, in VERY exciting fights, sure, but still losses.

Who would YOU let him fight? All the people ranked above him are coming off wins or too high for a guy outside the top 10 that's just L-O-S-T!! All the good guys under him are either just after a fight or already scheduled and the UFC want 171 to be awesome (especially in Dallas, where they're also laying groundwork for the Cowboy stadium show one day and need to see how the city responds in ticket buys to good shows) so Diego's their go-to guy for that. I'd say it's a compliment that they'd schedule the first guy who's ready just to get Diego on the card.

You know there are other parameters considered in UFC matchmaking, right? Not just rankings. There's schedules, injuries, strategic expectations for a specific card, champs retiring and leaving holes that need to be filled with immediate awesomeness, etc ... The UFC's bigger than "duh, let's put #2 vs. #1, easy, done."

* Edited at 12.14.2013, 7:37 AM ET *

Diego is only devalued by this matchup if he loses it, in which case he deserves to be devalued.