Combat sports: What to know about upcoming Diego Sanchez documentary

Jan. 11—Documentary filmmaker Charlie Minn has taken on daring and difficult projects: mass shootings in Parkland, Florida, Las Vegas, Nevada and Santa Fe, Texas, as well as the still-unsolved Las Cruces bowling-alley murders of 1990.

Now, he's tackling another compelling, complex, but far different and far less disturbing subject: the life and career of Albuquerque MMA legend Diego Sanchez.

As part of the project, Minn has scheduled a public meet-and-greet for Sanchez from 12:30-2:30 p.m. on Sunday outside the Ultra Beauty Store and Hair Salon at Cottonwood Mall.

It will be a homecoming of sorts for Minn, who was a sportscaster at KRQE-TV (then KGGM) in the early 1990s.

Sanchez, 42, a prep wrestling state champion at Del Norte in 2000, launched his pro MMA career two years later and has gone on to compile a record of 30-14.

As the winner of the UFC's inaugural The Ultimate Fighter competition in 2005, Sanchez has been among the sport's most popular fighters and is known for a frenetic, highly entertaining style.

LEO'S BACK (AGAIN): After a hiatus of 2 1/2 years, Albuquerque native Angelo Leo is scheduled for his second bout in three months.

Leo (22-1, 10 knockouts), the former WBO super bantamweight world champion, is matched against the Philippines' Mike Plania (29-3, 16 KOs) in the featherweight main event of a card in Plant City, Florida on Jan. 31.

In October, Leo signed a multi-fight deal with ProBox, a promotional firm that has its own arena in Plant City, streams its own cards and typically stages a card every two weeks.

Leo made his ProBox debut on Nov. 1 with a victory by ninth-round TKO over Nicolas Polanco.

The story was first reported in Albuquerque by boxingnewmexico.com.

ADAMS VS. ADAMS: A heavyweight scrap between Albuquerque's Juan Adams and Matt Adams of Roseville, Ohio has been added to the Jan. 27 BKFC Prospect Series bare-knuckle fighting event at Revel Entertainment Center.

It will be the bare-knuckle debut for both men. Juan Adams is 10-6 as an MMA fighter, having trained at Albuquerque's Jackson-Wink MMA. Matt Adams is 2-1 as MMA fighter.

The Jan. 27 main event matches Albuquerque's Donald Sanchez (1-1 bare knuckle, 30-20 MMA) in a middleweight fight against Noah Cutter (2-6 bare-knuckle) of Defuniak Springs, Florida.

USA BOXING: Albuquerque will be the site of a USA Boxing national amateur tournament in March, it was announced on Thursday.

The 2024 National Open is scheduled for March 9-16 at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

It will be the first major amateur tournament staged in Albuquerque since 2018, when the Convention Center hosted the USA Boxing Western Qualifier and Regional Open Championships.

Several New Mexico amateurs — Leroy Clark, Ariana Carrasco and Yoruba Moreu Jr. among them — had outstanding performances in 2023. Las Cruces' Joscelyn Olayo-Muñoz added to her collection of titles by winning a gold medal in the female, 106-pound Youth Division in December at USA Boxing National Championships in Lafayette, Louisiana.