Although Cyrille “Snake” Diabate has yet to truly follow up on the brutal message he sent to the UFC light heavyweight division in his promotional debut victory over Luiz Cane (who was still pretty highly-touted at the time), he has still managed to find himself on a two-fight win streak heading into Saturday night’s UFC on FUEL 7 event. With a 19-8 MMA record including appearances under the PRIDE, Cage Rage, and Deep promotions to his credit, Diabate will need all the help he can get when he takes on Jimi Manuwa, one of the light heavyweight division’s fastest rising prospects who is fresh on the heels of a brilliant UFC debut of his own at UFC on FUEL 5.
While Manuwa may be an absolute terror on the feet, we shouldn’t be quick to forget that Diabate is no slouch in the striking department either. Aside from his background in Muay Thai and shoot boxing, Diabate actually holds seven professional kickboxing matches to his credit as well. Diabate’s final match took place in May of 2005 against fellow UFC staple Michael “The Count” Bisping, who, judging by the Jonathan Goulet-esque hairdo he was sporting at the time, was just beginning to dip his toes into the rave/clubbing/DJ’ing scene that would eventually lead him to compose these kind of symphonies but not even once attempt to play Salieri.
We’ve thrown a full video of the Diabate/Bisping fight above, so check it out and let us know if you think “Snake” stands a snowball’s chance in hell of victory tomorrow night.
–J. Jones
Although Cyrille “Snake” Diabate has yet to truly follow up on the brutal message he sent to the UFC light heavyweight division in his promotional debut victory over Luiz Cane (who was still pretty highly-touted at the time), he has still managed to find himself on a two-fight win streak heading into Saturday night’s UFC on FUEL 7 event. With a 19-8 MMA record including appearances under the PRIDE, Cage Rage, and Deep promotions to his credit, Diabate will need all the help he can get when he takes on Jimi Manuwa, one of the light heavyweight division’s fastest rising prospects who is fresh on the heels of a brilliant UFC debut of his own at UFC on FUEL 5.
While Manuwa may be an absolute terror on the feet, we shouldn’t be quick to forget that Diabate is no slouch in the striking department either. Aside from his background in Muay Thai and shoot boxing, Diabate actually holds seven professional kickboxing matches to his credit as well. Diabate’s final match took place in May of 2005 against fellow UFC staple Michael “The Count” Bisping, who, judging by the Jonathan Goulet-esque hairdo he was sporting at the time, was just beginning to dip his toes into the rave/clubbing/DJ’ing scene that would eventually lead him to compose these kind of symphonies but not even once attempt to play Salieri.
We’ve thrown a full video of the Diabate/Bisping fight above, so check it out and let us know if you think “Snake” stands a snowball’s chance in hell of victory tomorrow night.
–J. Jones