Maybe you remember seeing his face next to Dan Henderson's on last spring's The Ultimate Fighter, working as Team U.S.A.'s Muay Thai coach. But if you're a hard core MMA fan, you remember the knees and long-armed punches he threw at Mauricio Rua while the two were on their feet. Regardless, Cyrille Diabate recently inherited a lot of new fans.

Throughout Diabate's 11-year career, he'd never fought in the UFC prior to last month's UFC 114. They gave him a tough test, pitting him against (T)KO expert Luis Cane. Even though he was the underdog, Diabate was resilient, showing great recovery, and TKO-ing Cane in the first round.

A week after his first win inside the Octagon, Diabate - now 17-6-1 - flew to France. Speaking to FiveKnuckles.com via e-mail, he discussed his favorite win, the future of French MMA, and which light-heavyweight fighter he would love to take on in the near future.

FiveKnuckles.com: Where you surprised by Luis Cane's power, and how close was he to winning the fight with that early punch?

Cyrille Diabate: No, I wasn't surprised by his power. I've faced hard-hitting fighters before. The fact I walked into the punch made it harder though. I think he could have maybe finished the fight there and then if I made a mistake after getting knocked down and he hadn't.

FiveKnuckles.com: Were you surprised that he didn't follow up right away?

Cyrille Diabate: He didn't get a chance to because I did the right thing: get the double underhooks and keep him close.

FiveKnuckles.com: Since he is a BJJ black belt, how much focus was put into your ground game?

Cyrille Diabate: I trained for Cane as I always do: I train in all fields of MMA, including BJJ. I'm not saying I've got a black belt level, but I'm confident that I can get out of most situations against good grapplers.

FiveKnuckles.com: You've had a long and impressive career in fighting. Do any of your fights stick out to you - either as a great win, a bad loss, or any other memorable reason?

Cyrille Diabate: I've had a lot of memorable moments, but the one that sticks out the most was in a Shidokan Karate world tournament. I was the lightest heavyweight in the tournament being only 190 pounds at the time and the heaviest was 300 pounds. I won the tournament with three KO wins in one night. I was 23 at the time and I won $12,000!

FiveKnuckles.com: You came to Team Quest to help Dan Henderson train for Anderson Silva. Can you talk about what it felt like to get asked to help a legend like Henderson?

Cyrille Diabate: Of course it was an honor for me to be asked to help him. I was a fan of the fighter before meeting him and then became a fan of the man. He's a great person and a good friend and a role model for a lot of fighters out there. I learned a lot training with him and the other guys at Team Quest.

FiveKnuckles.com: Since coaching The Ultimate Fighter, are you surprised with which fighters have made it big and which haven't? Do you think any of them have the potential to get into bigger shows and make a run at a title, but just need...