Exclusive interview with Cyrille "The Snake" Diabate

By Alberto for UrDirt.blogspot.com

We were pumped this week when we got a text message asking us if we wanted to interview Cyrille "The Snake" Diabate (14-6). Many hardcore fans here and overseas know the very dangerous French Muay Thai striker from his days in Deep, Cage Rage, 2H2H and Pride. We got a chance to pick The Snake's mind about his thoughts on his fight tonight on Showtime with Jaime Fletcher (9-3), training with Team Quest and becoming an all around great mixed martial artist.

Your fighting Jaime Fletcher on ShoXC how do you feel you match up with him in this fight?
I have all the tools to beat him so I am pretty confident I will win this fight, and I will win this fight before the third round.

The fight is in California where Fletcher is the fan favorite how does it feel coming into a hostile environment?
I am used to it, I have traveled all over the world to fight always coming from the outside. It won't affect me much.

Are you still training with the Snake Team or Team Quest?
I'm still with the Snake Team, I was with Team Quest to help train with Dan Henderson for his fight against Anderson Silva. I am going to be going back and forth to train with him because it went well. I want to go back so I can personally improve on my wrestling, they are one of the best wrestling teams in the sport. I have one of my guys going down to train with Thierry Sokoudjou for his upcoming fight in the UFC.

Is there anything that you are training for in this fight in particular?
No I am still working on my weaknesses, my take down defense and grappling. I am always trying to put it all together.

You normally have fought in Japan and England what are the surprises and differences fighting here in the US for the first time?
I wasn't expecting the amount of press coverage it is getting now in the US. It has definitely come a long way in a couple of years its quite surprising to see how much attention you get when you are a MMA fighter here.

So is it actually surprising to see how much the press knows almost every detail about you?
Yeah, its quite amazing actually.

Is it the same in England and France walking around the streets do you get noticed by fans?
No, no, its really underground in France not really known about the UFC or Pride and stuff like that. So even when your a professional fighter in MMA all around the world, its not like you get calls from journalists.

You have not fought in over a year is there any particular reason why, did you need time off to heal or just take a break from the sport?
I needed better management, so the first step was to get a good manager. I think I have one of the best in Ken Pavia I signed with him last year and straight away he was giving me opportunity to come to the US. We took our time I had a injury, I broke my ankle. When I was preparing for my first fight in the US. After that I took some time to train with Team Quest headed back to France and I haven't stopped training since then.

Did the time off benefit you?
Yeah, definitely it gave me time to get my skill set and I am now looking forward to fighting to see what. To show people I have been working hard, who think I am just one dimensional and just a striker to expect more from me.

You have won 5 of your last 6 fights how far do you feel you are from fighting EliteXC's 205 pound fighters like Rafael Feijao?
Well it depends on what happens tomorrow if the ring rust has affected me and I don't think it has. I can be in there with the top 205er's in EliteXC so why not be in a title fight as soon as possible. So why not be in a title fight by the second fight. I have proved I can hang in there with the best fighters in the world, so why not have the title fight?

Any predictions for your fight?
I think I am going to win by Knockout fairly soon, maybe the first or second round.

Anything you would like to say to fans and supporters who have followed your career in England and Japan?
Thank you very much for all the support it means a lot being in France where the sport is not legal and underground. So we have not got a lot of support from other countries. Thank you very much for that.

You can watch Cyrille begin his road to a title shot with EliteXC tonight on Showtime's ShoXC Challenger Series, check your local listings for times. Thank you to Kenny, Cyrille and Sean for the interview we really appreciate it.