UFC 138 results recap: Anthony Perosh submits Cyrille Diabate

If you're a fan of the classic striker vs. grappler mixed martial arts fights, UFC 138: "Leben vs. Munoz," going down today (Sat., Nov. 5, 2011) in Birmingham, England, had you covered.

That's because a light heavyweight battle was booked pitting Muay Thai specialist Cyrille Diabate against submission artist Anthony Perosh. Something had to give when they met in the center of the Octagon.

As it turns out, that would end up being "The Snake's" neck, as Perosh used his superior jiu-jitsu to take Diabate to the mat and choke him until he tapped.

That makes two submission wins for the Australian grappler in the 205-pound division. "I'm here to stay at light heavyweight," Perosh said. He sure is.

The fight opened with Perosh on his bicycle, looking to avoid the long reach of his 6'6'' opponent. It worked for a short time, too, until Diabate decided to lunge in and do some damage.

"The Hippo" had a great deal of trouble finding his range and each one of his takedown attempts were stuffed by the longer Frenchman. Even pulling guard was a bad decision, what with Diabate landing heavy blows on the ground.

Eventually, though, Perosh did, in fact, get the fight to the mat in an advantageous position. He looked for submissions but wasn't aggressive enough to truly attack with one, ending the round on top after having gotten blown away for four minutes.

The second round featured the same narrative. Diabate using his reach and superior striking to attempt to keep Perosh at bay, while Perosh worked to get Diabate to the floor. Only this time, the Australian accomplished his task within the first minute instead of the last.

He quickly showed why that was the plan coming in, as he took full mount and eventually got Diabate's back. The ensuing rear-naked choke failed but he also locked in an arm triangle on the other side.

Finally, Perosh took his back again, flattened him out, landed some ground-n-pound and locked in the rear-naked choke once again.

This time the tap came and he's 2-0 at light heavyweight inside the Octagon.

Watch out for "The Hippo!"

To check out MMAmania.com's LIVE UFC 138 results post, which includes up-to-the-minute, blow-by-blow coverage of EVERY fight click here.