Cheick Kongo

Category: Heavyweight
Tags: Cheick Kongo, Cheick Kongo merchandise, Heavyweight, Muay Thai, tail of the tape

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Hometown: Paris, France
Date of Birth: 17/05/1976
Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight: 30lbs (105kg)
Style: Muay Thai

Born May 17 1975, Cheick "The French Sensation" Kongo, (real name Cheick Guillaum Ouedraogo) is a French heavyweight kick boxer and mixed martial artist who trains with Quinton Jackson and Michael Bisping.

He's been a European Savate champion, the 2003 Intercontinental Muay Thai champion, the 2004 King of the Ring Super Heavyweight champion, and the 2005 King of Coliseum tournament champion. In 2006, he signed with the UFC and has become one of the many forces to be reckoned with in their stacked heavyweight division.

Cheick Kongo's long arms produce barrages of hard punches from many angles, right alongside some slick elbows. Standing at 6' 4", he regularly flicks up full bloodied knees with the sort of intuitive speed and precision that you'd normally associate with punches.

From the opening bell, he starts out jabbing, but relentless attack is never far behind. Watch for his body-kick and right cross combination - the powerful kick brings a fighter's hands down, giving the follow-up haymaker to the jaw a nice chance of success.

He's good in the clinch, and patiently uses Greco-Roman techniques, and the cage, to gain a strong position, from which he often produces a dramatic, big-slam double-leg takedown.

When he gets the chance to unleash it, his ground 'n' pound is awesome and relentless.

His take-down defense and sprawl are world class.

He's a highly trained individual, both in terms of cardiovascular conditioning and strength. Many of his recent fights have gone the distance, and he's never gassed. With a strength advantage over most of his opponents, he tends to use brute force and speed to fight off submission attempts and regain his feet once taken down. However, this isn't always enough, and he has been known to tough it out on the bottom until the end of the round.

He's had some decent fights, which have included a unanimous points victory over MMA legend Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović at UFC 75.

Kongo is nudging up into a deserved contender's position, with only two losses since joining the UFC, both decided by the judges, one of which was awarded against him after a good to-and-fro battle against accomplished contender Heath Herring.

Kongo has one notable weakness: his lack of offensive wrestling/submission techniques. In a recent match-up, he briefly had Heath Herring's back, but instead of hooking in and going for the rear naked choke, he simply stood up. He just doesn't go there. This is such a glaring shortfall for a modern MMA contender, that if Kongo were ever to take the UFC heavyweight title, every challenger would have a 'strikers chance' to take it away. It could be a very precarious position for him.