Diego Sanchez ‘Truly Devastated’ By Stephan Bonnar’s Death

“I was on my knees crying. I loved Stephan.”

UFC legend Diego Sanchez states he was squashed by the abrupt death of his long time good friend and The Ultimate Fighter 1 star Stephan Bonnar … who died suddenly on December 22.

“It was devastating. It was truly devastating. I was halfway through Christmas Eve just spending time with my family and I had someone text me, tried calling me, and then they texted me, ‘You really wanna take this call.’ I called them back and they gave me the news,” Sanchez informed us.

Diego and Stephan were both castmates on TUF1 — which aired in early 2005 — and are credited with assisting the promo turn into the most significant in all mixed martial arts. The season produced fighters like Josh Koscheck, Kenny Florian and Forrest Griffin to name a few.

Bonnar’s ending battle with Griffin is among the most well-known battles in the promo’s history.

“[Stephan] worked my corner for one of my UFC fights. We were brothers. We stayed in contact and he was doing good, man. He was finally turning the curve,” Sanchez stated of his good friend who sometimes had a hard time to discover his method after his battling profession ended.

But, Diego — who was cornered by Stephan at UFC 253 — states his good friend was on the ideal course.

“As a big brother who’s been through the rough, the rain, the pours of life and he got his umbrella and he was coming out and he was going into the light. He was going into the sunshine.”

Diego continued … “He had his podcast, he had a new job with an insurance company and he was just working on rebuilding his life. I was happy for him and excited for him.”