UFC 138 fight card: Cyrille Diabate vs Anthony Perosh clash styles overseas

The UFC 138: "Leben vs. Munoz" event, going down today (Sat., Nov. 5, 2011) at the LG Arena in Birmingham, England, will kick off its main card with a classic style match-up pitting a striker, Cyrille Diabate vs. a grappler, Anthony Perosh.

The names likely aren't jumping off the page at you and that's fine. Recognition is certainly not a necessary component for excitement and when examining each man, this fight shows plenty of potential for fireworks.

On Diabate's side he comes in long and lean with vicious punches and kicks that more often than not leave destruction in their wake. He's a mixed martial artist in the truest sense of the word. He's a kickboxer, a shoot boxer, a Muay Thia fighter; he does it all.

The one thing he's not as well versed in, though, his submission game, could prove to be his downfall.

Don't mistake Anthony Perosh for a future title contender. That's certainly not the case and it's not at all unfair to call a spade a spade.

But, despite his advanced age (39), "The Hippo" says he feels as good as he ever has now that he's competing at light heavyweight. Indeed, this would seem to be evidenced by the fact that he dominated Tom Blackledge back at UFC 127 in February.

But does that mean he'll do the same to Diabate?

His Brazilian jiu-jitsu stylings definitely give him much more than a fighting chance. Of course, he'll have to get the fight to the floor to make that happen and that's not exactly and easy endeavor.

Striker vs. grappler, Maniacs. Who wins?