Cheick Kongo

From CageWiki

1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 UFC Career
4 Mixed martial arts record
5 Gallery
6 External links

Profile

Cheick Kongo (born May 17, 1975) is a French professional mixed martial artist who fights out of The Wolfslair Academy.

He stands 6 ft. 4 in. (193 cm) tall and weighs approximately 230 lbs.. He currently fights as a heavyweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early Career

Cheick Kongo made his professional mixed martial arts debut on June 10, 2001 against Andre Tate as a part of the Rings Holland - No Guts, No Glory fight card. He defeated Tate via second round KO to begin his career on a winning note.

Up until December of 2005, Kongo amassed a 7-2-1 record fighting primarily for the Rings Holland promotion. In that time he suffered a decision defeat to Rodney Faverus and a TKO loss to perennial mad man, Gilbert Yvel.

UFC Career

Kongo received an offer to the big show in July of 2006, when he was offered a bout against the (now deceased) Gilbert Aldana at UFC 61. Kongo showed his impressive kickboxing the bout as he picked apart Aldana's brawling style on the way to a first round TKO victory.

The Frenchman returned a little over a month later to the UFC octagon at UFC 62 when he faced off against UFC virgin, Christian Wellisch. Kongo disposed of the Hungarian grappler 2.51 of round 1 with a vicious knee knockout.

At UFC 64, Kongo suffered his first UFC defeat against Carmelo Marrero. Kongo had no answer for Marrero's wrestling and was constantly taken to the floor. He suffered little to no damage when underneath Marrero but still suffered a split decision defeat to the American.

Kongo was given a chance to rebound from the Marrero loss at UFC 70 when he faced off against PRIDE veteran, and Chute Boxe member, Assuerio Silva. Kongo's suspect ground game and wrestling were once again showcased as Silva, traditionally mainly a muay thai practioner, was able to constantly slam Kongo to the mat. Silva was unable to keep Kongo there for any great length of time however and while on the feet, Kongo punished Silva with hard combinations which eventually earned the Frenchman a majority decision victory.

A little under five months later, Kongo was given a step up in competition as he faced off against PRIDE 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix champion, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic at UFC 75. After losing the first round, Kongo began to walk Cro Cop down and punish the PRIDE veteran with hard hitting body kicks. He was almost deducted a point in the third round after tagging Cro Cop on the balls repeatedly with knees but fortunately for him, he was not and went on to score the upset unanimous decision victory.

Kongo's next bout came at UFC 82 when he faced off against another PRIDE veteran in Heath Herring. Kongo was knocked down in the opening seconds of the bout by a wild Herring but recovered quickly. From there Kongo almost entirely ditched his kickboxing and decided to take Herring down. Although he showed improved wrestling, Herring showed a more seasoned ground game and was able to punish Kongo from side mount for the majority of rounds 2 and 3. Herring was declared the winner by split decision.

After the disappointing loss to Herring, Kongo was given what can basically be described as a squash match against Dan Evensen. Kongo destroyed Evensen rather predictably late in the first round.

Kongo defeated Mustapha Al Turk by TKO (elbows) at 4:37 of round one at UFC 92. He defeated Antoni Hardonk by TKO (punches) at 2:21 of round two at UFC 97. He was defeated, however, by Cain Velasquez by unanimous decision at UFC 99.