After facing some pretty serious charges carrying the possibility of years in prison, former UFC star and original The Ultimate Fighter winner Diego Sanchez has instead been handed a lengthy period of probation.
Sanchez, 44, a member of the UFC Hall of Fame, has been sentenced to five years of probation after firing a gun on an Albuquerque freeway while riding in the passenger seat of a jeep. The incident occurred in July 2025.
Sanchez had been facing one felony count – shooting at or from a vehicle, as well as a misdemeanor charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon. He reached a plea deal with prosecutors in February.
KOB 4 was first to report news of Sanchez’s sentence, which came as prosecutors requested a two-year prison sentence, despite the plea deal. Ultimately, the judge opted for probation, though Sanchez could still wind up jailed should he violate the conditions of his probationary period.
“People do make mistakes, and this is Albuquerque, the wild wild west. I made a bad mistake,” Sanchez said in a statement issues alongside his lawyer in front of an Albuquerque, NM courthouse on Thursday. “All I can do is take accountability, own it, you know, and spread positivity to the youth of the next generation to change these ways. Not to be shooting out windows like cowboys.”
During Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Sanchez and his team noted that he had been undergoing treatment for mental health and substance abuse issues, and had been on new medication to treat bi-polar disorder at the time of the incident.
Sanchez (30-14) exited the UFC in 2020 off a loss to Jake Matthews. He took one more fight, in 2022, against Kevin Lee under the Eagle FC banner, losing a decision.
The former UFC lightweight title challenger’s career came to a bizarre end in part thanks to an association with Joshua Fabia, a self-styled “Self-Awareness Guru” who turned up in the fighter’s corner offering bizarre advice. Sanchez later revealed a predatory relationship in which he described being a “slave” to Fabia.