Former UFC lightweight Marc Diakiese is one of the latest fighters to make the switch over from the UFC to the Professional Fighters League (PFL).
He leaves behind a seven-year stint in the promotion, a run that saw him compete 15 times inside the Octagon.
His PFL signing was announced at the recent PFL Europe event in Newcastle and his debut fight has already been made official.
“Bonecrusher” will compete in a battle of Brit strikers when he faces Tim Wilde in London on September 14 in his Bellator Champions Series debut.
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Diakiese has now spoken more about his decision to make the switch in order to start what he sees as a new chapter for his career.
Marc Diakiese Says Lack Of Activity Led To Him Leaving UFC, Joining PFL
Diakiese spoke about his departure from the UFC in a recent interview with InsideFighting, during which he made it clear that he didn’t want to say the wrong thing or give the wrong impression.
For him, the decision became an easy one over time because of two main factors, one from both sides.
Diakiese was becoming frustrated with how long he was having to wait before receiving fights, and after his win over Kauê Fernandes last November, he was even waiting to be cut by the promotion.
He detailed how this growing frustration and desire to be active meant that he felt like he was being “set free” when everything was finalized with the PFL.
Fresh start. For me, people see it different, but for me, it’s actually a relief. I can actually focus on certain things that I want to focus on, as in my career, so it’s a perfect spot for me and I’m really happy where I am,” Diakiese said. “There was a couple issues with myself before leaving, so I’m just happy that I’ve been given a spot where I can perform because I’m 31. Like I said, I want to be busy, active, put on a show. Not just one win and wait six months. For me, I can’t be doing that.
It might come out wrong but it was just like, I don’t want to wait, I don’t want to wait around. It were like okay, I had a fight in Brazil, after that I got given another fight in Vegas but it was another five-week notice, it was too short for me and I was hoping for something (in) Europe. Then they said July, so I was waiting for that, but then for some reason I got nothing from them on the July card. So I’m going to wait around and just keep waiting. I want to be active.
The other side to the coin was that although he was hoping to be kept more active in the UFC, he was coming around to the idea of signing with the PFL after attending events and speaking to fighters on the roster.
As he has previously stated, Francis Ngannou played a role in the move, which only made the decision easier once it became time for him to make the call.
Just the way they treated me as a fighter and like, yeah, I’m sure you know I’ve been speaking to Francis Ngannou for quite a while and he spoke to me like I was a younger brother and talked to me maybe like six months ago, eight months ago. You know when you’ve come back to it and you just think about it and you’re like, ‘Is it right? Is it not?’ But when it came, it was the easiest decision, like, ‘Yeah okay, I don’t want to sign with anybody else but PFL.'
