Even though he was not able to stay as busy as he had wanted to in 2016, featherweight prospect Erick Sanchez is still happy with the win he was able to pick up.
Against Mike Segura in April, Sanchez was able to pick up a submission win in less than a minute, and pick up his third win in a row in the process.
“I was happy with my performance,” Sanchez told MMAWeekly.com. “Going into the fight I knew he was a tough opponent. So just going in there and finishing him quick was a pretty good feeling. I was happy with the outcome.”
While he was only able to get in one bout in 2016, Sanchez was scheduled for three, including two where both he and then his opponents were unable to fight.
“When I was supposed to fight (Angel Luis Cruz) I had staph the week of,” said Sanchez. “At first I was kind of bummed out because I worked hard for that. It’s part of the game, and sometimes things happen and you have to move on.
“This last one they couldn’t find me an opponent. It always happens where a guy gets hurt or they can’t do it, and the fight before that, it happened to me, so I just had to deal with it.”
Sanchez (7-2) will look to kick off a hopefully busier year in 2017 when he takes on Andreas Quintana (10-2) in the 145-pound co-main event of Combate Americas 11 in Burbank, Calif., on Thursday.
“(Quintana) just fought one of my teammates, and there’s a couple of holes I see in his game, so I’ve just got to expose them and get the win,” Sanchez said. “Wherever his weakness is at is where I’m going to get him.”
In addition to having a higher output of fights this year, Sanchez’s main goal for 2017 is to go after the Combate Americas featherweight title.
“I’m looking forward to fighting for the title here pretty soon. I’m focused on Andreas right now, but after this fight, whatever comes my way, I’m just trying to stay healthy and ready to go,” said Sanchez. “I’ll take whatever comes to me.”
(Photo Courtesy of Erick Sanchez – Facebook)
