Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez is making his entrance in the lightweight division for one single purpose: a chance to go up against BJ Penn.

“I can go after the 155-pound belt,” he said in an article posted on UFC.com. “I always thought it would be a great fight with [lightweight champion] BJ Penn and me.”

However, before he can do that, he will have to go past Stevenson and possibly a slew of other lightweight contenders.

His match up with Stevenson is slated at the O2 Arena in London as the main header of UFC 95 on Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

“Joe’s always been a pretty good friend of mine,” said Sanchez. “I’m cool with him, we’ve always gotten along, and I’ve always had a lot of respect for him, even in the King of The Cage days.”

The 5'11” Sanchez went down from welterweight (170 lbs) to lightweight (155 lbs) for his fight against Stevenson. Spectators would like to see how his weight drop would affect his performance against Joe “Daddy”, who used to be a welterweight himself.

“I thought about all the options at 170, and what would be the best choice for me, and then I thought that if I dropped to 155, I’m going to be bigger, stronger, able to focus more on technique and not on how to get bigger,” he said.

Although tapering down had been slightly difficult for Sanchez, he would still enjoy a four-inch height advantage over the 5'7” Stevenson.

Sanchez added that the weight cut has forced him to work harder in training. This, he said, will give him the edge over Stevenson.

“I think I’ve prepared harder than him. All fights come down to your training, and I feel that I’ve outworked him--spiritually, mentally, physically, I’m at another level, and I feel like I am the champion at 155 right now,” he said.

For more UFC action, watch SkyCable's Balls TV Channel.