A welterweight fight between Michael Chiesa and Diego Sanchez has been verbally agreed on for UFC 239 in July.
UFC 239 is in the process of adding a welterweight fight between Michael Chiesa and Diego Sanchez to its lineup. Per ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, both Chiesa and Sanchez have verbally agreed to compete on the upcoming card.
Before his welterweight debut at UFC 232, Chiesa competed in the lightweight division since winning the fifteenth season of the Ultimate Fighter. During his tenure at lightweight, Chiesa was able to accumulate a record of 7-4 with wins over names like Al Iaquinta and Jim Miller.
In his first test at 170 pounds, Chiesa defeated former interim champion Carlos Condit by way of kimura. He looks to follow up that performance with a win over yet another JacksonWink staple in Sanchez.
After competing at various weight classes like featherweight and lightweight, Sanchez returned to welterweight in late 2017. His re-emergence in the division did not go as planned as Sanchez was knocked out by Matt Brown at UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Pettis.
Sanchez has since rebounded from the Brown loss with two wins. The first being over Craig White at UFC 228 and the second being over Mickey Gall at UFC 235. Sanchez is looking to extend his new win streak to three, which will be the first time he has done so since 2009.
With the possible addition of Chiesa and Sanchez, the card for UFC 239 is as follows:
- Light Heavyweight Championship – Jon Jones (C) vs. Thiago Santos
- Women’s Bantamweight Championship – Amanda Nunes (C) vs. Holly Holm
- Welterweight – Ben Askren vs. Jorge Masvidal
- Heavyweight – Junior dos Santos vs. Francis Ngannou
- Light Heavyweight – Jan Blachowicz vs. Luke Rockhold
UFC 239 takes place on Saturday, July 6, 2019, live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Follow along with FanSided MMA for all your live results and highlights throughout the week.