He ain't goin' out like that (he ain't goin' out like that).
Longtime mixed martial arts (MMA) veteran Cyrille Diabate suffered a painful leg injury during his light heavyweight fight against Jimi Manuwa at the UFC on FUEL TV 7: "Barao vs. McDonald" event earlier this year at Wembley Arena in London, England.
After stumbling around the cage for the better part of five minutes, "The Snake" threw in the towel.
That's because he suffered injuries to both his Achilles tendon, as well as his calf, as he details his long road back to the Octagon in a recent conversation with Jack Brown:
"I have suffered a long time from tendinitis in my Achilles tendon, and in the locker room warming up for the fight, I felt a tear in the tendon while kicking the pads. It was pretty painful but bearable. Then early on in the first round, I felt a tear in my calf. That was really painful. It felt like someone had stabbed me in the leg. From then on, it kept on getting worse. I couldn't continue and lost. The doctor at the English hospital said that he didn't see much! But I found out, after returning to France for some exams, that I had a five-inch split in my Achilles tendon and a tear in my calf muscle. I've been rehabbing ever since. It's taking some time just because I had to let the tears heal before starting all the exercising. Apparently I'm a few weeks away from being able to train normally."
At 40 years old, the clock is definitely ticking.
Prior to his injury across the pond, Diabate (19-9) had put together consecutive wins for the first time inside the Octagon. After outpointing Tom DeBlass at UFC on FUEL TV 2, he strangled Chad Griggs at the UFC 154 pay-per-view (PPV) in late 2012.
It sounds like he could be back before the end of the year and if so ... who do you want to see him fight next?
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