Off The Chain! Sanchez Coming For Weichel At Bellator 241

Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images

Bellator 241: “Pitbull vs. Carvalho” goes down this weekend (Fri., March 13, 2020) at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., streaming exclusively online via DAZN. The main event features “champ-champ” Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (30-4) defending his 145-pound title against Pedro Carvalho (11-3) under the auspices of the Featherweight Grand Prix.

Another key tournament bout is also scheduled for Mohegan Sun, pitting two familiar foes against each other — Daniel Weichel (40-11) and Emmanuel Sanchez (19-4). At their first meeting nearly four years ago, Weichel edged out a split decision, solidifying his status as a title contender until he got his long-awaited rematch with “Pitbull” Freire in 2018.

Currently on a two-fight win streak, Sanchez is looking for the exact same thing Weichel got from beating him — a rematch with the champ. The only possibility for that to happen is for both men to advance on Friday night, so while Sanchez will have one eye on “Drake,” he’ll have the other on Freire in the main event.

MMAmania.com recently spoke with Sanchez about a pivotal moment in the tournament as “El Matador” vows he’s much better prepared for Weichel the second time around.

“I’m in a completely different state of mind, state of my spirit, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, you know in every which way from the first time that I locked horns with him. I knew how much of a big fight it was for me back then but now it’s even better because we’re on such a bigger platform and the stakes are so much bigger.”

At first you might think that having the rematch be “so much bigger” would make it even harder to win than their first encounter. Sanchez vows it’s had the exact opposite effect.

“For me, when the stakes are so much bigger that’s no pressure. That just means I have more of an opportunity to perform. That’s honestly when I perform my best. Pressure does two things man — it crushes cans and it makes diamonds so, it’s my time to shine.”

That pressure has increased thanks to six months off since submitting Tywan Claxton in the opening round of the tournament. Sanchez isn’t thrilled about being out that long.

“A little bit (too long). You know I’m a young guy, you look at my Bellator tenure and my history, I’m a guy who likes to stay busy and stay active and fight as frequently as possible. I’ve already established myself as one of those guys that’s done that, but while I’m obviously still young and still healthy, I’d love to fight more.”

Sanchez has found the silver lining in this cloud though and it involves peaking physically.

“I guess those circumstances were out of my control, so all I know is that I got the fight I wanted, I got the opponent that I wanted, and it’s my first time going to the Mohegan Sun! So I’m excited for this opportunity and everything that’s coming along with it. It’s been quite some time but it’s good because that also has allowed me to recuperate a little more in between my training sessions, in between just training in general.”

As a self-confessed gym rat Sanchez also knows that he’s going to be ready for anything whether it’s three months, six months, or a year before his next fight.

“I’m a guy who never really leaves the gym, throughout the year I’m always consistently training, seven days a week too. I’m a guy who really doesn’t take a lot of breaks throughout the week. Having this much time in between fights has done me a great service, because now it’s just made me hungrier and (more) ready to fight. It’s almost like ‘Alright let the dog off the leash and let him go have some fun now.’ Now there’s no holding me back.”

Sanchez has waited so long to let the dogs out that he’s even come up with a few bars for this battle with “Drake” in Uncasville.

“Daniel Weichel will be done in one at the Mohegan Sun! That’s for sure — you can believe that! You know I was 25 when I fought him (the first time) and to me that had been the biggest fight for me because he had just fought for the world title. One punch away and he would have been world champion. I believe I did good and for me how I live now good isn’t good enough. I didn’t get my hand raised, I have a L on my record, and I want nothing more than to get this win back. Nothing would satisfy me more than putting Daniel Weichel away, so that’s exactly what I’m going to go out there and go do.”

Hearing Emmanuel’s rap got me thinking — what’s the weirdest diss or trash talking he’s ever heard from an opponent in a fight? It turns out it was his first opponent Matt Church.

“My pro debut I was elbowing a guy from the bottom. I didn’t cut him but I was still elbowing him pretty good. I ended up cutting him eventually but in the first round he was trash talking me saying ‘Is that all you got? Is that all you got?’ It kind of made me giggle because I’m like ‘Well man I just had back control, like you’re going to say this now in the last ten seconds of the round? I’m still hitting you more than you’re hitting me and you’re on top of me? I’m on bottom guard and I’m still elbowing you and you’re going to talk trash to me now?’ So it really kind of just gave me a power strut to just giggle and be like ‘More of an ass-whooping is coming for you, don’t worry about that.’”

That’s exactly what Emmanuel Sanchez wants on Friday in Uncasville — to give Daniel Weichel more of an ass-whooping than he did the first time around.

Complete audio of our interview is embedded above, and complete coverage of “Pitbull vs. Carvalho” resides here at MMAmania.com all week long.

Bellator 241’s main card will start at 10 p.m. ET exclusively on DAZN. MMAmania.com will deliver results and play-by-play for the Bellator MMA card HERE.