Anthony Perosh showed that Cyrille Diabate still can't grapple at UFC 138. The Australian grappler struggled early while the fight was on the feet but managed to finish Diabate on the ground in the 2nd round.
Diabate used his range and footwork to back Perosh up against the cage early in the first round. He quickly cut the Australian with a couple of punches and reddened his ribs with a body kick. Perosh finally made a fairly feeble single leg attempt around the 2.5 minute mark, but Diabate fought him off. At the 2 minute mark, Perosh pulled guard and ended up eating a couple of hard hammer fists for his troubles before Diabate stood back up. Perosh managed to get him down finally with about 90 seconds left. He had side mount briefly before Diabate fought to half-guard. Perosh landed a few elbows from the top and fended off a sweep attempt from the Frenchman. Perosh ended the round on top.
It only took Perosh 45 seconds to get Diabate down in the second round and got mount shortly after. Perosh landed a couple of punches before Diabate rolled over and Perosh attacked the neck. Diabate escaped the initial attempt but ended up back in mount, eating punches. Perosh transitioned to north-south briefly before moving back to mount and setting up an arm triangle attempt. Diabate survived but gave up his back again. Perosh fired a barrage of punches to the side of Diabate's head and then locked in the choke.
Perosh is 2-0 as a light heavyweight in the UFC, 2-3 overall for the organization.
Diabate is 2-2 in the UFC.