Marc Diakiese (born 16 March 1993) is a Congolese-born English professional

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

who competes as a

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight ...

for the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

. He has also competed for Caged Steel and

BAMMA BAMMA (British Association of Mixed Martial Arts) was a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United Kingdom. It premiered on June 27, 2009, and was shown on the television channel Bravo. BAMMA events were shown live on ITV4 in the UK and I ...

Background

Aged 17, Diakiese began training in mixed martial arts to keep fit and stay out of trouble. Before turning professional, he worked as a railway engineer. Diakiese was also a promising footballer before committing to mixed martial arts.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

As an amateur, Diakiese went 9–0 and simultaneously held three different titles. He turned professional in 2013 after struggling to find willing opponents.

BAMMA

After four wins in under a year in regional promotions, Diakiese joined

on a five-fight contract in 2014. In September, he made his promotional debut against Jefferson George at BAMMA 16 and won the fight by unanimous decision. In December, he beat Vernon O'Neill via unanimous decision at BAMMA 17. In March 2015, Diakiese faced Jack McGann at BAMMA 19 for the vacant Lightweight Championship. He won the fight by unanimous decision. In September, he defended his title at BAMMA 22 with a knockout 24 seconds into the first round against Rick Selvarajah. In February 2016, Diakiese signed a new deal with the promotion. Three months later, he successfully decided his title for a second time with another first round knockout. Diakiese finished Kane Mousah in 36 seconds at BAMMA 25 and subsequently earned a UFC contract.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Diakiese made his UFC debut against Lukasz Sajewski on October 8, 2016 at

UFC 204 ''UFC 204: Bisping vs. Henderson 2'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on October 8, 2016 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Background This was the fourth UFC event contested in Man ...

. After being smothered by his opponent in the first round, Diakiese came back to win the fight by TKO due to knees and punches near the end of the second round. Diakiese returned to face

Frankie Perez Frankie Perez (born May 11, 1989) is a mixed martial artist specializing in Brazilian jiu-jitsu who has competed in both the Ultimate Fighting Championship, as well as World Series of Fighting. Originally from Wallington, Perez moved to Howell ...

on December 9, 2016 at UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Abdurakhimov. Despite losing the second round, Diakiese would go on to win the bout by unanimous decision. Diakiese faced

Teemu Packalén Teemu Packalén (born May 22, 1987) is a retired Finnish mixed martial artist. He was the Amateur Champion of Finland and the Finnish Open Championship winner in 2010. Packalén competed in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Champi ...

on March 18, 2017 at UFC Fight Night: Manuwa vs. Anderson. Diakiese defeated Packalén via knockout, 30 seconds into the first round. The win earned Diakiese his first ''Performance of the Night'' bonus. Diakiese faced

Drakkar Klose Drakkar Don Klose (born March 9, 1988) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background Born and raised alongside six other siblings in South Haven, Michigan, ...

on July 7, 2017 at The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale. He lost the fight by split decision. Diakiese faced

Dan Hooker Daniel Hooker (born 13 February 1990) is a New Zealand mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Hooker was the King in the Ring Middleweight Kickboxing Champion and WKBF ...

on December 30, 2017 at UFC 219. He lost the fight via guillotine choke submission in the third round. Diakiese faced

Nasrat Haqparast Nasrat Haqparast (born August 22, 1995) is a German mixed martial artist (MMA) who currently competes in the Lightweight division in the UFC. Background Haqparast was born in Germany to Afghan parents from Kandahar who came as refugees from ...

on July 22, 2018 at

UFC Fight Night 134 ''UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Smith'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 134'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on July 22, 2018, at Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany. Background The event was ...

. He lost the fight via unanimous decision after being knocked down multiple times during the bout. Diakiese faced Joseph Duffy on March 16, 2019 at

UFC Fight Night 147 ''UFC Fight Night: Till vs. Masvidal'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 147'' or ''UFC on ESPN+ 5'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on March 16, 2019 at The O2 Arena in London, England. ...

. He won the fight by unanimous decision. In May 2019, Diakese revealed on his social media that he had signed a new, multi-fight contract with the UFC. Diakiese faced

Lando Vannata Landon Anthony Vannata (born March 14, 1992) is an American professional mixed martial artist who currently competes in the featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor since 2012, he has formerly comp ...

on September 28, 2019 at

UFC on ESPN+ 18 ''UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs. Cannonier'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 160'' or ''UFC on ESPN+ 18'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on September 28, 2019 at Royal Arena in Cop ...

. He won the fight via unanimous decision. Diakiese was scheduled to face

Stevie Ray Lash Steven Huffman (born August 22, 1958) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Stevie Ray. Stevie Ray is best known for his seven-year tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1993 to 200 ...

on March 21, 2020 at UFC Fight Night: Woodley vs. Edwards. However, Ray was removed from the card late-January for undisclosed reasons. Diakiese was expected to remain on the card against promotional newcomer

Jai Herbert Jai Herbert (born 13 May 1988) is an English mixed martial artist who currently fights as a lightweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the former Cage Warriors lightweight champion and also competed in BAMMA. Background Herbert ...

. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the event was eventually postponed . Instead Diakiese was scheduled to face Alan Patrick on July 19, 2020 at UFC Fight Night 172. However, on June 14, Patrick withdrew from the event for unknown reason and he was replaced by

Rafael Fiziev Rafael Fiziev (born March 5, 1993) is an Azerbaijani professional mixed martial artist and Muay Thai fighter, who currently competes in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of October 24, 2022, he is #6 in the ...

. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. This fight earned him the Fight of the Night award. Diakiese was scheduled to face Rafael Alves on September 4, 2021 at

UFC Fight Night 191 ''UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Till'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 191 '' and ''UFC on ESPN+ 49'' and ''UFC Vegas 36'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on September 4, 2021 at the ...

. However, Alves pulled out of the fight in mid-August for undisclosed reasons and in turn, Diakiese was removed from the card as well. In turn, the pair was rescheduled at

UFC Fight Night 197 The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

on November 13, 2021. Diakiese lost the bout via guillotine choke submission in the first round. Diakiese faced Viacheslav Borshchev on March 26, 2022 at

UFC on ESPN 33 ''UFC on ESPN: Blaydes vs. Daukaus'' (also known as ''UFC on ESPN 33'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on March 26, 2022 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Ba ...

. He won the fight by unanimous decision after controlling Borshchev on the ground for nearly twelve and a half minutes. As the first bout of his new four-fight contract, Diakiese faced

Damir Hadžović Damir Hadžović (born August 8, 1986) is a Bosnian-born Danish mixed martial artist who competes in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Background Hadžović was born to Bosnian Muslim parents in the eastern ...

on July 23, 2022, at

UFC Fight Night 208 ''UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Aspinall'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 208'' and ''UFC on ESPN+ 66'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on July 23, 2022, at The O2 Arena in Lon ...

. He won the fight by unanimous decision. Diakiese faced Michael Johnson on December 3, 2022, at

UFC on ESPN 42 ''UFC on ESPN: Thompson vs. Holland'' (also known as ''UFC on ESPN 42'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on December 3, 2022, at Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, United States. Backg ...

. He lost the bout via unanimous decision.

Personal life

Diakiese has two children, a son named Junior and a daughter named Matilda, with his fiancée. In 2017, he became the first UFC fighter to pose for ''

Gay Times ''Gay Times'' (stylized in all caps), also known as ''Gay Times Magazine'' and as ''GT'', is a UK-based LGBTQ+ media brand established in 1975. Originally a magazine for gay and bisexual men, the company now includes content for the LGBTQ+ comm ...

'', an

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

publication.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

Performance of the Night UFC Bonus Awards are three separate cash bonuses usually awarded to four fighters after each UFC event, based on internal decisions by UFC management. More/fewer bonuses have been awarded at some events, especially when no knockouts or submissions ...

(One time) ** Fight of the Night (One time) *

** BAMMA Lonsdale British Lightweight Championship (One time) ***Two successful title defenses *Cage Kumite **Cage Kumite Lightweight Championship (One time) *MMA Total Combat **MMATC Lightweight Championship (One time) *MMADNA.nl **2016 European Newcomer of the Year.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 16–6 , Michael Johnson , Decision (unanimous) , UFC on ESPN: Thompson vs. Holland , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Orlando, Florida, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 16–5 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Aspinall , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England , , - , Win , align=center, 15–5 , Viacheslav Borschev , Decision (unanimous) , UFC on ESPN: Blaydes vs. Daukaus , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Columbus, Ohio, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 14–5 , Rafael Alves , Submission (guillotine choke) , UFC Fight Night: Holloway vs. Rodríguez , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:48 ,

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 14–4 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , UFC Fight Night: Figueiredo vs. Benavidez 2 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates , , - , Win , align=center, 14–3 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs. Cannonier , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark , , - , Win , align=center, 13–3 , Joseph Duffy , Decision (unanimous) , UFC Fight Night: Till vs. Masvidal , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, England , , - , Loss , align=center, 12–3 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Smith , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany , , - , Loss , align=center, 12–2 ,

, Submission (guillotine choke) , UFC 219 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 0:42 ,

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 12–1 ,

, Decision (split) , The Ultimate Fighter: Redemption Finale , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 12–0 ,

, KO (punch) , UFC Fight Night: Manuwa vs. Anderson , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:30 ,

, England , , - , Win , align=center, 11–0 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Abdurakhimov , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 10–0 , Łukasz Sajewski , TKO (knees and punches) ,

, , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:40 ,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England , , - , Win , align=center, 9–0 , Kane Mousah , KO (punch) , BAMMA 25 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:36 ,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, England , , - , Win , align=center, 8–0 , Rick Selvarajah , KO (punch) , BAMMA 22 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:24 ,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Ireland , , - , Win , align=center, 7–0 , Jack McGann , Decision (unanimous) , BAMMA 19 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Blackpool, England , , - , Win , align=center, 6–0 , Vernon O'Neil , Decision (unanimous) , BAMMA 17 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, England , , - , Win , align=center, 5–0 , Jefferson George , Decision (unanimous) , BAMMA 16 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, England , , - , Win , align=center, 4–0 , Danny Welsh , Submission (rear-naked choke) , CSFC 8 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:16 ,

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

, England , , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , Jakob Grzegorzek , Decision (unanimous) , CSFC 7 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, England , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , Tom Earnshaw , TKO (punches) , Cage Kumite 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:52 , Barnsley, England , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Harris Neofytou , TKO (punches) , MMA Total Combat 55 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:27 ,

Spennymoor Spennymoor is a town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is south of the River Wear and is south of Durham. The civil parish includes the villages of Kirk Merrington, Middlestone Moor, Byers Green and Tudhoe. History Origins The ...

, England , , -

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diakiese, Marc 1993 births Living people English male mixed martial artists English practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Lightweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu English sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Democratic Republic of the Congo emigrants to England Democratic Republic of the Congo male mixed martial artists Democratic Republic of the Congo practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu People from Kinshasa Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters