Is France a future hotbed for MMA?

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Mishima Zaibatsu

TMMAC’s resident musician
Feb 27, 2016
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I'm not going off of any hard data, just speculation really. But, now that the sport is to be legalized in France and that we've already seen a handful of quality fighters, particularly HW's(Ngannou, Gane), emerge from the country, does anyone see them becoming a leader in the sport?

They have a rich history in Judo, Muay Thai and even their own Foot-fighting martial art, Savate(Judo and Muay Thai make a fairly effective combo as well from what I understand), so the infrastructure of martial arts is there.

Interesting little tid-bit, Greco-Roman Wrestling in the modern era originated in France as well.

What do you guys think? Will MMA take off, or is it considered too brutal by the general public?
 

homo fagit

Writer, and adventurer
Jul 17, 2018
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I see a similar fate with Sweden and Ireland for them. UFC will sign a bunch of French fighters and there's going to be a UFC event every year in France. Most of those guys aren't on the UFC level and will be cut in a couple of years and they are left with a one or two French headliners. UFC keeps going back every year like they did with Sweden but when the headliner retires or fights only big fights in America that's it.
 

Sheepdog

Protecting America from excessive stool loitering
Dec 1, 2015
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I see a similar fate with Sweden and Ireland for them. UFC will sign a bunch of French fighters and there's going to be a UFC event every year in France. Most of those guys aren't on the UFC level and will be cut in a couple of years and they are left with a one or two French headliners. UFC keeps going back every year like they did with Sweden but when the headliner retires or fights only big fights in America that's it.
France is 10x the size of Ireland and 7x the size of Sweden. It's also got a far more extensive combat sports history than these countries. As OP said France ticks almost every box in the constituent parts of MMA - good boxers, kickboxers, judo players, wrestlers - it's only really missing BJJ. But Judo compensates a lot for that, particularly if guys start complimenting their training with some imported BJJers.

If Australia and New Zealand can produce 3 champions in the last couple of years, it would be silly to write France off as a potential MMA hub once it is given more time to develop. New Zealand and Australia have nothing except for kickboxing/Muay Thai/boxing as elite baseline components of MMA. Wrestling is essentially non-existent here. France is is starting from a much, much stronger position.

You might be right that culturally, MMA just never gels. There are powerful forces working against MMA in France. When you see a prospect like Gane coming up, it's hard not to be bullish on France's potential.

It'll depend how long it takes for them to figure out that they can surrender.
The fact that this joke was met with approval tells you everything you need to know about the general level of intelligence on this forum.
 

Sheepdog

Protecting America from excessive stool loitering
Dec 1, 2015
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and you think you're improving the average?
Definitely. I wouldn't need an IQ above 90 to have at least some positive impact.

If you think 'hurr durr France surrender' is still a funny joke, you'll fit right in here though, so don't mind me.
 

Filthy

Iowa Wrestling Champion
Jun 28, 2016
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Definitely. I wouldn't need an IQ above 90 to have at least some positive impact.

If you think 'hurr durr France surrender' is still a funny joke, you'll fit right in here though, so don't mind me.
Ronda would ippon Teddy Riner, because she's American and he's French.
 
M

member 603

Guest
It truly has little to do with location as it does with training partners and camps. Will there be an influx of French professional fighters based in France? (Because we already have French/Parisian fighters out there), probably yes..... Will they be world-beaters? Who can say.

There aren't that many top French BJJ guys in France to my knowledge, so that alone may limit a lot of fighters, however like with most European gyms I know of in Europe, they'll most likely bring in or affiliate with some Brazilian, or a fight team to help their fighters.
 

Hwoarang

TMMAC Addict
Oct 22, 2015
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There aren't that many top French BJJ guys in France to my knowledge, so that alone may limit a lot of fighters, however like with most European gyms I know of in Europe, they'll most likely bring in or affiliate with some Brazilian, or a fight team to help their fighters.
If you look at the list of current ufc champs, I think Amanda Nunes is the only bjj black belt (which she hardly uses). Wrestlers, and strikers with good take down defense seem to be the ones on top atm. And France have great strikers and judo players.

Also, they don't need a french coach. Brazilian world champ bjj'ers are a dime a dozen these days and have been exported around the globe to teach for years. Expect some to be moving over to France soon to be the bjj coaches at French MMA gyms.
 
M

member 603

Guest
If you look at the list of current ufc champs, I think Amanda Nunes is the only bjj black belt (which she hardly uses). Wrestlers, and strikers with good take down defense seem to be the ones on top atm. And France have great strikers and judo players.

Also, they don't need a french coach. Brazilian world champ bjj'ers are a dime a dozen these days and have been exported around the globe to teach for years. Expect some to be moving over to France soon to be the bjj coaches at French MMA gyms.
I literally said that they'll most likely bring in a Brazilian, or fight team to help the fighters....

Anyway, while the style of grappling we implement here (that BJJ/Wrestling/CACC/Judo hybrid) is something that we do better than most of the planet, so while yes I agree with the statement that you don't need a BJJ BB to be a champ, unless you're a Dagestani or Russian wrestler, you're not going to have a good MMA career.... To my original point, as it stands with France, there is no one from France who will develop that skill set to be a world beater level anytime soon.
 

regular john

Muay Thai World Champion
May 21, 2015
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IMO it depends on whether france will be able to build a strong amateur/starter level circuit where fighters can develop from raw talent to world class.

France has historically been the #2 country in the world at Muay Thai and they traditionally always have a couple elite kickboxers. They have a fairly good influx of Muay Thai talent from and to Thailand and often host mid and upper level shows. I believe they have a good tradition in judo as well.

Now will this help in building an mma hotbed? I doubt it. as far as I know mma is not very popular in Europe and the fact that France already has a more developed Muay Thai and kickboxing scene may actually prevent upcoming fighters from switching to mma. They already have a Muay Thai circuit which most likely gives upcoming fighters a better platform than mma.