Fight Path: RFA 13's Andrew Sanchez on MMA roll while juggling rock career

One can find Andrew Sanchez performing at MMA shows in two very different ways.

For one, Sanchez is the lead guitarist for The Cauliflowers, a six-man rock group composed of fighters who train or have trained together. The band can be found at Cage Championships shows in and around St. Louis.

On the other side, Sanchez is even more impressive. He’s not on the stage, but in the cage, where the middleweight is using the skills he learned as a self-starting wrestler to move closer to a title.

He has made changes from previous life experiences for both, from wrestling for MMA and from high school band for music.

“Clarinet,” Sanchez told MMAjunkie. “First chair, buddy.”

His focus now is on fighting, as the 25-year-old native of Belleville, Ill., gets closer to a bigger opportunity. At 4-1, he will take on Miles Marshall in the co-main event of Friday’s Resurrection Fighting Alliance 13 show in Lincoln, Neb., with a shot at the organization’s middleweight title on the line.

The fight comes as Sanchez continues to build up his striking skills to augment his wrestling, which he began as a high school freshman as a stable part of his life after running into some bumpy times. He grew to become a four-time NAIA All-American while setting the foundation for his fighting career in the offseasons.

Now focused on fighting after leaving a job to train full time, he bounced back from his only loss with a November win in his RFA debut to set up the Friday matchup against Marshall.

“From what everyone’s telling me, if I can win a few fights I can get into the UFC,” he said. “If I win this I’ll get a shot at the title, and the RFA title-holders have been getting signed.

“But I’m not as nervous as I would’ve been in the past. I’m feeling good about where I am.”

Finding a path

Sanchez was born and raised in Belleville, an Illinois city about 30 minutes from St. Louis. His father is a Cuban native who left the country before Fidel Castro came to power, but Sanchez has never known any members of his father’s side of the family because they have remained in Cuba.

As a kid, he was playing most sports available and developing a musical ear. Outside of his clarinet, he was learning the piano and building an interest in the guitar.

He got into enough trouble that he spent some time in juvenile hall, which is why some guidance in his life was necessary. He found it in wrestling.

He had tried some Tae Kwon Do classes for some combat sports experience, and wrestling was new to him as a high school freshman. He only did the sport for two full seasons, as a junior and a senior, and he wanted to continue in college.

Without many options, he went to nearby McKendree University. He redshirted his first year there, meaning he was practicing but not competing.

“I knew I could do this. I just had to learn,” he said. “They thought I could be another body in the room. Then I went in and worked hard because I wanted this. I worked harder than anybody, I can honestly say that.

“Every time something happened to me, I made sure it wouldn’t happen again.”

In his first year wrestling, he was an All-American and advanced to the national tournament. By the time his career ended, he was a four-time All-American, two-time national champion (including as a senior) and owner of a 144-23 record.

It was a five-year experience that helped him learn dedication could change fortunes.

“I’m really proud of it – not many people do that,” he said of his experience. “People who know, they know that’s not easy.”

Second career

The foundation for Sanchez’s MMA career began while he was in college. Beginning with his freshman season, he would spend the offseasons in the basement of a local parks and recreation building taking MMA classes, and even fighting in amateur shows.

He kept the two careers very separate. When wrestling ended, he moved to MMA. When the wrestling season began, he was focused.

Near the end of his time at McKendree, while finishing up his criminal justice degree, Sanchez knew he wanted fighting to be part of his future. It helped motivate him in his college practices.

After he finished school, he took a job as a laborer and got to work on his fighting career. He made his pro debut in June 2012 and won his first three fights, all with first-round finishes.

He says now, though, that his dreams ballooned a little too quickly as he saw a UFC opportunity in his near future. That was on his mind when he faced UFC vet Dustin Jacoby last March.

“I just became obsessed,” he said. “I trained like I was insane – I’ve always had an overtraining problem. I went on this ridiculous diet, like no carbs for two months. I almost won, but it was a split-decision (loss) in his hometown. I learned a lot about training and about the right mentality because of that.”

He bounced back with a victory in his RFA debut in November to build some momentum heading into Friday’s fight, after which he can turn at least some attention to his other career.

“There’s another Cage Championships show in April,” he said of The Cauliflowers’ schedule.

For the latest on RFA 13, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

Award-winning newspaper reporter Kyle Nagel pens “Fight Path” each week. The column focuses on the circumstances that led fighters to a profession in MMA. Know a fighter with an interesting story? Email us at news [at] mmajunkie.com.