Marc Diakiese is all set to kick off a new chapter in his fighting career, and the man known to his fans as “Bonecrusher” has teased a return to the spectacular style that won him so many plaudits earlier in his career.
Diakiese has signed with the PFL, and will make his debut under the PFL/Bellator banner on Saturday night at Bellator Champions Series in London, with the former UFC lightweight ready to make his mark in a showcase fight on home soil at Wembley Arena.
DR Congo-born Diakiese will face Tim Wilde in a battle of UK-based lightweights in London on Saturday, with Diakiese keen to pick up a solid win before making his preparations to join the PFL’s global lightweight season in 2025.
The season format offers a different sort of test for fighters, with former PFL featherweight champion Brendan Loughnane stating that you have to be a different animal to be able to handle the punishing schedule that takes fighters from fight camp to fight camp in an almost ceaseless run from the start of the season until their elimination, or the season finale.
For Diakiese, that increased activity is just what the doctor ordered, as he told me during media day in London this week.
“Yeah, that’s main thing I really wanted,” he said.
“I jumped straight at the opportunity, because I feel like that’s what I really want, just being busy.
“I’m always in the gym, always training. If anything, it’ll (just) be the weight cuts that will be tough. But, apart from that, everything’s good.”
Diakiese has moved around different gyms in his career and, after a stint working with American Top Team, he has found a more local home within the four walls of Great Britain Top Team, under the leadership of top UK coaches Brad Pickett and Ashley Grimshaw.
As a fighter with extensive experience on the world stage, Diakiese’s arrival has added more top-level know-how to the mats at the Morden, London gym, and Diakiese said he’s enjoying being one of the older heads in the room, where he can pass on tips and advice to some of the younger prospects in the gym.
“It’s good. I get to understand different areas, different aspects, where they are in their careers, especially in certain fighters, the way they go in their fights,” he explained.
“I can give advice, but I can’t tell them what to do, because I’ve realised, like certain things, I’ve done old mistakes. I could have had somebody that told me not to do this, not to do that. So if I can tell them to change something, that has helped me, it makes me happy if I can (help) them a little bit.”
Diakiese is eyeing an impressive victory in the Bellator cage this weekend to lay down a marker for what’s to come in the PFL next year, and after going through different approaches in his career where he’s leant heavily on his wrestling for some fights, and turned into a flashy striker in others, he said fans can look forward to some spectacular performances next year.
“Next year, you should expect to see ‘Highlight Marc Diakiese’ but, for now, I think you pick your poison. I’ll give you different looks!”
Bellator Champions Series: London – Fight card
- Leah McCourt vs. Sara Collins – women’s featherweight
- Simeon Powell vs. Rafael Xavier – light heavyweight
- Luke Trainer vs. Laurynas Urbonavicius – light heavyweight
- Marc Diakiese vs. Tim Wilde – lightweight
- Archie Colgan vs. Manoel Sousa – lightweight
- Mike Shipman vs. Eslam Abdul Baset – middleweight
- Joseph Luciano vs. Steven Hill – 175-pound catchweight
- Ciaran Clarke vs. Zebenzui Ruiz – bantamweight
- Darragh Kelly vs. Dmytrii Hrytsenko – lightweight
- Eman Almudhaf vs. Daiane Silva – women’s featherweight
