Countdown to UFC in Sweden: Meet Cyrille Diabate

April 1, 2012

MMA Viking continues its “Meet the Fighter” series with Cyrille “The Snake” Diabate. He faces Swede Jorgen Kruth on the prelim card of the UFC in Sweden. Stay tuned for more bios from the event every day.

Cyrille “The Snake” Diabate (17-8-1, 2-2-1 UFC), France

Like his opponent Kruth, Diabate hails from an extensive kickboxing background. Sporting a great record of 32-8-2 in striking arts Diabate has met some of the toughest strikers in the world during his career. Big wins are missing from his resume but he does hold a win in kickboxing over current UFC middleweight top contender Michael Bisping.

38 year old Diabate is a true veteran in MMA having fought his first bouts in late 90’s. Diabate is currently 2-2 in the UFC. He started off with a solid win over Brazilian Luiz Cane but was then dominated by the young superstar Alexander Gustafsson. Diabate bounced back to winning ways as he was able to squeeze out a decision win from Steve Cantwell in March of 2011.In his latest bout at the UFC 138 Diabate got choked out in the second round by Australian grappler Anthony Perosh.

Diabate hovers around at close to two meters and has a very long reach of 207 cm. Experienced striker knows how to take advantage of his reach from the outside and stung his opponents with straight punches mixed with low kicks. Diabate’s clinch work is also on a good level, thanks to his Muay Thai background and extensive training at the Team Quest with Greco wrestlers like Dan Henderson. On the feet his biggest weakness is a very upright fighting stance combined with lack of head movement which leads to him eating unnecessary amount of shots. Diabate has a sturdy chin but like against Gustafsson the damage taken adds up as the fight progresses. Diabate has been training grappling for years and even though he got outgrappled by BJJ blackbelt Perosh in his latest bout, he should have the advantage in this department over his Swedish opponent.