Diego Sanchez will meet Paulo Thiago at UFC 121 on Oct. 23 in Anaheim, Calif., according to both welterweights.

Sanchez revealed the matchup to Penny Buffington of PennyJoMMA.com and the usually ultra-motivated TUF 1 winner claimed he did not push himself in his last fight.

"I am giving everything I have in the training camp this time around, I will show my fans and UFC that that last fight I was only performing at 70% with no one to blame but myself," Sanchez told Buffington. "I have found my focus again I am expecting a war."

After falling short in a championship bout against BJ Penn last December, Sanchez returned to welterweight against John Hathaway at UFC 114 this past May. Surprisingly, Sanchez lost convincingly to the 22-year-old Brit by unanimous decision.

Thiago, who is coming off a loss to Martin Kampmann at UFC 115 in June, confirmed to Tatame that he has signed the contract and will send it Wednesday to the UFC.

"He's a tough fighter, and he's on the same situation as me, coming from a loss ... It'll be a tough fight, we both want to keep our jobs," he said.

It's unlikely that either one will be released in the near future, but another loss would put them out of reach of a title shot.

UFC 121 is expected to feature Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez and Jake Shields' UFC debut versus Kampmann.