A light-heavyweight bout appears to be on schedule for the upcoming March 3rd UFC on Versus 3 event between former WEC champion Steve Cantwell (7-3) and French kickboxer Cyrille “The Snake” Diabaté (17-3).
News of the fight first surfaced on ESPN.com and was confirmed by MMAWeekly.com, who spoke to sources close to the bout. They noted that both fighters have verbally agreed to the bout but an official agreement has yet to be signed at this time.
Cantwell enters the fight with back-to-back losses on his record and did not fight in 2010. He had been scheduled for two bouts this past year but a medical condition forced him out of a July bout at UFC 116 and then a knee injury forced him off the UFC 120 card. His record in the UFC is 1-2 and is likely fighting for his job against Diabaté. The two losses were against Brian Stann at UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Guillard and to Luiz Cane at UFC 97, both were by unanimous decision.
Diabaté is also likely facing expulsion from the UFC with a loss to his record entering the fight with a defeat in his last fight to Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 120. He had been on a six fight win streak, which included his UFC debut at UFC 114 where he earned a first round TKO win over Luiz Cane.
The UFC on Versus 3 event is rumored to take place on March 3rd in Louisville, Ky.