Original Ultimate Fighter middleweight winner Diego Sanchez has reached a plea deal with prosecutors after facing multiple firearm-related charges.
With that said, Sanchez is still looking at possible prison time.
As previously reported by Cageside Press and other outlets, Sanchez was arrested in Albuquerque, New Mexico in July 2025 after being seen firing a gun from the passenger seat of a moving vehicle.
At the time, Sanchez was slapped with one felony count – shooting at or from a vehicle, as well as a misdemeanor charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon.
Sanchez later told police that while there was a gun present in the vehicle, no shots had been fired.
Per a new report by MMA Fighting, Sanchez has now agreed to plead guilty to a charge of shooting at or from a motor vehicle (no great bodily harm), which constitutes a fourth degree felony.
Due to the circumstances surrounding an incident, Sanchez is looking at up to six and a half years in prison. Prosecutors, however, are asking for no more than two years, with any remainder to be served on probation.
A judge will sentence Diego Sanchez on April 6.
After winning the inaugural Ultimate Fighter at middleweight, Sanchez would return to welterweight, then drop down to 155lbs and go on to fight for the UFC’s lightweight championship in 2009. He also became a mainstay of the UFC roster for some 15 years.
The end of his career, however, was marred by erratic behavior, including an association with Joshua Fabia, a so-called “self-awareness guru” that Sanchez would later say he became a slave to. That association was chronicled by an episode of the Vice TV series Dark Side of the Cage.
Sanchez was released by the UFC in 2021.
At the time of his arrest last year, a representative for Sanchez said he was struggling with substance abuse issues.
