Diego Sanchez issues statement after crushing KO loss to Al Iaquinta

Last night, in the co-main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Nashville, Tennessee, The Ultimate Fighter season 1 winner Diego Sanchez had the opportunity to surge up the lightweight rankings with a win over disgruntled contender Al Iaquinta. Though Sanchez was as tough as ever in this fight, he would ultimately fail on his mission, eating a pair of bombs in the first round, and coming to in a dazed heap on the canvas.

In the wake of this knockout loss, which marks just his second strike-induced stoppage loss, and the first time he’s been legitimately knocked out, Sanchez took to Twitter to congratulate Iaquinta on the victory and update the fans on his condition. Apparently, he’s doing just fine.

https://twitter.com/diegosanchezufc/status/856017467373649924

“Congrats [Al Iaquinta],” Sanchez said in his post. “Straight-right from hell, good job! I’m ok. [I] wanted to congratulate you but they said I had to get a CAT scan.” 

From there, Sanchez Tweeted once more to let the fans know that his scan went well.

To all my fans godbless and I'm all good! A perfect Ct scan

— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) April 23, 2017

“To all my fans god bless, and I’m all good,” he said. “A perfect CT scan.” 

With this latest defeat, Sanchez returns to the loss column after an impressive decision defeat of former Bellator title challenger Marcin Held. In his next most recent bout before that, he experienced his first strike-induced loss at the hands of Joe Lauzon. This loss, finally, was proceeded by a close win over Jim Miller.

Iaquinta, meanwhile, is now on a five-fight streak, composed of TKO wins over Rodrigo Damm, Ross Pearson, and Joe Lauzon, a razor-thin decision win over Jorge Masvidal, and now, a knockout of Sanchez. While the New Yorker is one of the lightweight division’s top contenders, he is clearly not happy with the UFC.

Where do you think Diego Sanchez should go from here? Sound off, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/23/2017.