Jimi Manuwa claimed a TKO victory tonight over Cyrille Diabate at UFC On Fuel TV 7, but not in the manner he would have hoped with Diabate having to pull out at the end of the first round due to a suspected torn calf muscle.
Manuwa takes the center of the cage in the opening minutes and lands the first strike, a kick to Diabate’s lead leg.
Then Manuwa looks for the clinch against the cage, but Diabate reverses him and works some knees. Manuwa catches his leg during one of those knees though and makes him pay by using it to land a takedown.
Manuwa’s in half guard, but Diabate’s looking to sweep him so he has to focus on positioning rather than raining down strikes. Diabate gets up to his knees and then is back upright with Manuwa immediately pushing him up agains the cage before the break free.
A couple of big kicks from Manuwa and Diabate attempts a knee which Manuwa again uses to take him down, though this time he doesn’t follow him to the mat.
Manuwa continues to be the aggressor in the striking realm, looking to jump in with the left hook. Diabate goes for the clinch and lands a big knee to the mid-section.
More strikes from the Brit and Diabate again goes for the clinch and another vicious knee follows. Manuwa’s wise to it again though and dumps him to the mat.
That’s where the round ends and Diabate limps back to his corner. He’s speaking to his corner and clearly something isn’t right. He points to his leg and a doctor comes in to check on him. They are speculating he might have torn his calf and when asked if he can continue Diabate says no.
So unfortunately this fight is over and Manuwa is awarded the TKO victory due to a doctor’s stoppage. Not ideal, but based on the action we saw in this one Manuwa had got the better of it and would almost certainly have been up 10-9 on the judges scorecards.
