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Brett Okamoto
Multiple Authors
Retired UFC fighter Diego Sanchez was sentenced to five years of supervised probation on Thursday, after pleading guilty to a felony gun charge dating back to last year.
Sanchez, 44, was arrested in July 2025 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after police said he fired a gun into the air from the inside of a Jeep as it was passing a motor vehicle accident. Sanchez, who told the court he has been working on his sobriety and mental health, took responsibility for his actions. According to a report by KOB 4 in Albuquerque, prosecutors had pushed for a two-year prison sentence.
“People do make mistakes,” Sanchez said. “This is Albuquerque, the wild wild west. I made a bad mistake.”
Sanchez rose to fame in the UFC in 2004, as the winner of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. He fought for a UFC championship in 2009 and the UFC inducted his fight against Clay Guida in 2009 into its Hall of Fame. He was released by the promotion in 2020.