Career
He has also competed in shoot boxing and Muay Thai. He has fought at Palace Fighting Championship, Tachi Palace Fights, PRIDE, ShoXC, Deep, Cage Rage and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Pride Fighting Championships
Diabaté then faced off against Maurício Rua at Pride Final Conflict Absolute.
After 5:29 of the first round, Rua defeated Diabaté via TKO (stomps).
This loss led to Diabaté heading for smaller organizations. His first fight was in England, for the Cage Rage promotion.
He defeated Ryan Robinson via armbar and followed this up with a blood-soaked decision victory in a ShoXC card, where he faced Jaime Fletcher. Diabaté defeated Marcus Hicks via submission (armbar) after just 89 seconds.
Ultimate Fighting Championship
Cyrille appeared frequently as a striking coach for Team Henderson in season 9 of The Ultimate Fighter.
lieutenant was announced in February 2010 that Diabaté had signed a four fight contract with the UFC. In his debut at UFC 114 he defeated Luiz Cané via TKO in the first round. Diabaté later expressed disappointment in his own performance, having had to "survive a flash knockout" early in the first round. In his second appearance, Diabaté lost to Alexander Gustafsson on October 16, 2010 at UFC 120.
In the fight, he was dominated by the Swede for the entire first round standing, and in the second round he was taken down early and submitted with a rear naked choke.
This was his first loss in four years. Foreign his third UFC fight, Diabaté faced Steve Cantwell on March 3, 2011 at UFC Live: Sanchez versus
Kampmann. Diabaté fought Anthony Perosh on November 5, 2011 at UFC 138.
He lost the bout against Perosh via submission due to a rear naked choke in the second round. Diabaté was expected to face Jörgen Kruth on April 14, 2012 at UFC on Fuel television 2.
However, Kruth was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Tom DeBlass. Diabaté was briefly linked to a bout with Fabio Maldonado on November 17, 2012 at UFC 154.
However, Maldonado was pulled from the bout and faced Glover Teixeira on October 13, 2012 at UFC 153, replacing an injured Quinton Jackson.
Diabaté instead faced Chad Griggs at the event. Diabate defeated Griggs via first round rear naked choke submission. Diabaté faced Jimi Manuwa on February 16, 2013 at UFC on Fuel television: Barao versus
McDonald.
Diabaté faced Ilir Latifi at UFC Fight Night 37. Before the fight, Diabaté announced he will retire from Mobile Marketing Association regardless of the bout"s outcome. He lost the fight via submission in the first round.
After his loss to Latifi, Diabaté made his retirement from combat sports official