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[Sakara=Excitement]

MMAjunkie.com

A light-heavyweight bout between Cyrille Diabate (19-8-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC) and Jimi Manuwa (12-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) is the latest addition to the quickly filling UFC on FUEL TV 7 card.

UFC officials today announced the fight.

UFC on FUEL TV 7 takes place Feb. 16 at Wembley Arena in London. The event's main card, including a title fight between interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao and challenger Michael McDonald, airs on FUEL TV following Facebook prelims.

It's not clear where Diabate vs. Manuwa will end up on the lineup.

Diabate, a former kickboxer who's steadily rounding out his game, is on a two-fight win streak (with victories over Tom DeBlass and Chad Griggs) with three wins in his past four fights, all in the UFC. The former PRIDE and EliteXC fighter is 9-2 since 2007.

Manuwa, who fights in his home country at February's event, made his long-awaited UFC debut in September and scored a dominant TKO victory over Kyle Kingsbury at UFC on FUEL TV 5 in Nottingham. The 32-year-old has now posted 11 knockouts in 12 career wins, and he's never gone beyond the second round in his career.

The latest UFC on FUEL TV 7 card now includes:
Champ Renan Barao vs. Michael McDonald - for interim bantamweight title
Che Mills vs. Matthew Riddle
Danny Castillo vs. Paul Sass
Terry Etim vs. Renee Forte
Vaughan Lee vs. Motonobu Tezuka
Josh Grispi vs. Andy Ogle
Ulysses Gomez vs. Phil Harris
Cyrille Diabate vs. Jimi Manuwa

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

Cyrille's striking technique is nearly unparalleled at LHW and for all of Manuwa's power, I think his skills are far too rudimentary to give Diabate trouble. This is going to be one of those "take you to school" fights with Diabate cracking Jimi's leg up and snapping his neck back. Should be fun for the first round and if Cyrille can weather the blitz, he should be able to pick and choose his shots nicely.