5 ultimate betrayals in UFC history

#2 Jackson brings in GSP, says goodbye to Diego

Diego Sanchez felt betrayed by Greg Jackson's decision to bring Georges St-Pierre to Albuquerque

If anyone was wondering who was really to blame in the Jones/Evans spat, perhaps they shouldn’t have looked much further than Greg Jackson. A tremendous coach, Jackson was also no stranger to abandoning a longtime student for a more promising prospect. The first example? Around four years prior to the Jones/Evans incident, a similar story was being told in Albuquerque involving Welterweights Diego Sanchez and Georges St-Pierre.

Diego had been Jackson’s biggest star as the original season of TUF exploded into the conscience of MMA fans, and realistically, the first TUF winner was the man who put the Albuquerque camp on the map and helped to lead to the UFC success of the likes of Evans and Keith Jardine a few months later.

By the time 2006 came around, Sanchez was one of the UFC’s most recognisable stars and he was on a huge win streak, 17-0 with six wins in the Octagon. It seemed like only a matter of time before he received a title shot against new champion Georges St-Pierre, who won the title in the latter months of the year.

Instead, GSP was invited to train with Jackson’s camp on a part-time basis, clearly stepping on Diego’s toes. Diego himself has stated that the focus suddenly moved away from him and he believed that Jackson wanted him to drop to 155lbs to avoid a fight with his new prize student. Eventually, things came to a head and Diego departed the team he’d been with his entire career to start afresh in San Diego.

It was a move that didn’t really pay off, and despite dropping to 155lbs and gaining a title shot there, Diego never really fulfilled that early potential. He’s since returned to Jackson’s camp but has been unable to recapture the early magic he had. Maybe that’s something to do with the way he was treated there a decade ago.