Diego Sanchez: Poor UFC 171 performance due to food poisoning from steak tartare

DALLAS – Diego Sanchez says he has a good – though baffling – reason for his poor performance at Saturday’s UFC 171 event.

Sanchez (24-7 MMA, 13-7 UFC), who suffered a unanimous-decision loss to fellow lightweight Myles Jury (14-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) in a pay-per-view main-card bout, said he was sapped of energy due to food poisoning.

Sanchez said he got it from a post-weigh-in meal of steak tartare, a dish made from raw beef and raw quail egg yolk. The veteran fighter said he ordered his rare choice of a pre-event meal from hotel room service.

From his Twitter account:

I wasn't my self last night I sustained Food poisoning from eating a beef tar tar with raw quail egg as a appetizer at dinner—
Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) March 16, 2014

I was weak and my performance showed it if you notice I don't go for one takedown because I just didn't have the strength,—
Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) March 16, 2014

Jury and his team fought a good fight against me and they did win, but I wanted my fans to know the truth why I was not all there.—
Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) March 16, 2014

Take what you want from it it is the truth. I made a horrible choice and it's no ones fault but mine.—
Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) March 16, 2014

People can talk all the shit they want. I didn't bitch out. I chased him around and fought hard even at my worst. It just wasn't my night.—
Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) March 16, 2014

Sanchez suffered substantial face bruising and bleeding during the featured fight. Although he provided his usual mean-mugging, aggression and crowd-pleasing theatrics, Sanchez also left himself open to counters and takedowns, which allowed Jury to pick up a decisive decision win over the veteran fan favorite.

With the loss, the former UFC title challenger has lost two straight and three of his past four. Sanchez hasn’t picked up a stoppage win since scoring a TKO win over Luigi Fioravanti in June 2008.

For complete coverage of UFC 171, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

* * * *

Check out video highlights and a recap of UFC 171:

It’s easy to look back now and look at the thing syou should have done, but yeah, I probably should have pressed a little bit more and pressed to finish.

I would go out there and finish him this time,” Lawler said bluntly. “I should’ve done more in the fight and thrown more kicks and took him out.

I didn’t do it tonight, and he fought a hell of a fight.”

The thing is, when you leave it up to the judges, those things happen. I just didn’t do enough tonight, they thought. I need to go back to work, obviously. Work on some things. Work on throwing a little bit, maybe, some more punches. I thought I fought a pretty good fight. I defended some takedowns. It was a hell of a fight.

“He brought it tonight, he was in shape, and he got the victory.”

I was looking to stop him. I wanted the finish. And I just didn’t get it.

I was thinking, ‘Oh shit, he’s laying on me.’ dejected That what I was thinking.

I saw his legs buckle a little bit, but he recovered pretty fast, and he was throwing back. He’s a dangerous opponent, and once again, maybe I should’ve pressed a little bit more and took the fight to him a little earlier.

And for complete coverage of UFC 171, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

* * * *

Check out video highlights and a recap of UFC 171: