Cheick Kongo (16-6-2, 10KO/3Sub) is possibly coming off of the most remarkable win of his career. The UK based French striker was in deep water against Pat Barry (6-3, 5KO) before unleashing a right uppercut that stretched Barry out on the canvass, ending the New Orleanians' night early. But what's next for Kongo? The Frenchman has been referred to by many recently as a "gatekeeper" - a term that Kongo has stated he dislikes, no matter who it is aimed at.The 6 ft 4 in former World Muay Thai Champion has managed to notch up some big wins during the course of his career, but always seems to suffer losses at the most inappropriate times.
It is not all that long ago that Kongo was dismantling opponents and calling out the winner of the Frank Mir (15-5, 3K0/8Sub) vs. Brock Lesnar (5-2, 2KO/2Sub) UFC Heavyweight Title unification match. A loss to Cain Valasquez (9-0, 8KO) in Cologne a little over two years ago halted Kongo's progress. The bout was a title elimintor for Kongo, who had accepted the fight at two weeks notice. Despite the obvious lack of preparation, Kongo rocked Valasquez several times en route to a unanimous decision loss. Since then, Valasquez has gone on to capture the UFC Heavyweight Title, decimating every opponent along the way. Kongo remains the only man to take Valasquez the distance, and thus should take great pride in his performance on the night, especially when you consider he took the fight at such short notice. However, one would imagine that had the Frenchman been fully prepared for the fight, Valasquez would still have been far too much of a superior wrestler for him.
Since the two fought in June of 2009, Valasquez has improved his striking greatly, while Kongo's lack of grappling prowess frustratingly remains a massive achilles heal. While Valasquez was busy destroying Brock Lesnar and Antonio Nogueira (32-6-1-1, 2KO/20Sub), Kongo had slipped down the ladder, going 2-1-1 in his next four fights. A devastating loss to Frank Mir, during which the grappler dropped Kongo with a left hand before strangling him in the first round, was followed by a dominating if uneventful victory over Paul Buentello (29-13, 17KO/9Sub), an unimpressive draw against Travis Browne (11-0-1,9KO/1Sub) and that epic victory against Barry. Despite the end result of the Barry fight, it cannot be overlooked that Kongo was in real trouble against Barry, indeed many felt the fight should have been stopped when Barry had Kongo badly hurt. Like Kongo, Barry is also a kickboxer, which meant that Kongo's grappling weaknesses were never going to be a factor in the fight.
Despite these red flags, Kongo showed real heart and resourcefulness in turning the fight around, and his attention has rightly shifted towards his next opponent. After a long layoff, Kongo is anxious to get back in the swing of things. He told MMAjunkie.com in a radio interview that he wants to face Matt Mitrione (5-0, 4KO) next. The matchup does make sense, as both men emerged from the same UFC Live event with impressive victories.
If Kongo can defeat Mitrione, then he will have put a halt to an impressive streak, and would surely have placed himself firmly back in the upper echelon of the division. However, were he to lose, it would be a massive setback. Mitrione is an ever improving fighter, an impressive athlete and extremely heavy handed, but were Kongo to lose to a relative newcomer then any hopes of future headline match-ups against the elite of the division would inevitably remain out of his reach.
Other possibilities include a rematch against Travis Browne, or collisions with the likes of Roy Nelson (15-6, 8KO/5Sub) and Shane Carwin (12-2, 7KO/5Sub), both of whom have recently been on the losing end of contender bouts and are currently riding two fight losing streaks. Such match-ups would perhaps provide Kongo with greater recognition were he to win, and perhaps less flak were he to lose to either man respectively. Nonetheless, a potential fight with Mitrione wets the appetite in the same way the Barry/Kongo fight did. The fact that Mitrione is team mates with the former also offers an additional promotional angle.
If Mitrione defeats Kongo it will more than likely open up the possibility of bigger fights against high ranking opponents for the TUF 10 enigma. In that regard perhaps the thirty-six year old Kongo, despite his protestations, is merely playing a gate keeper role in this fight. Yet despite his flaws as a mixed martial artist, Kongo possesses the fire power to defeat anyone in the heavyweight division on any given night.
