Despite Main Event Loss, French did well at UFC Paris

Val Dewar

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Despite Main Event Loss, French did well at UFC Paris image

© Per Haljestam-Imagn Images

Morgan Charriere celebrating victory.

The depth of French talent in the sport of MMA has been questioned by pundits and fans alike at times, but their showing at UFC Paris offers hope, despite Benoit St. Denis’ main event defeat, that some fighters lower on the totem pole are already growing their own star.

Team France went 6-3 on the evening, with homegrown talents Nassourdine Imavov, William Gomis, Morgan Charriere, Fares Ziam, Oumar Sy, and Taylor Lapilus all coming out victorious. Aside from Benoit, only Nora Cornolle and Kevin Jousset lost, Jousset being the only member of the group who does not train in France at all, as he did not find MMA until moving to Melbourne, and later Auckland. However, that record falls to 6-4 if one includes Darya Zheleznyakova, a Russian-born former Ares FC fighter who trains with France’s largest team: the MMA Factory.

Although that main event loss may be what sticks in peoples’ mind the most, France has legitimate talents to focus on who are on the rise. Nassourdine Imavov is just one win away from a title shot. Oumar Sy is undefeated and at age 28 has plenty of time to reach the top of a shallow light-heavyweight division. Morgan ‘The Last Pirate’ Charriere, also at age 28, is a genuine prospect at featherweight with his slick striking, knockout power, and marketable nickname. Manon Fiorot did not fight on this card, but she is presumptively next in line for a title shot in her weight class against champion Valentina Shevchenko.

If Ares Fighting Championship, France’s main mixed martial arts promotion, can keep producing talent, the future could be bright. However, it is noted by many that larger promotions poached most of the top fighters from regional French promotions. Fighters like Cedric Doumbe, Baysangur ‘Baki’ Chamsoudinov, Laureano Staropoli, and Abdoul ‘Lazy King’ Abdouraguimov signed to the Professional Fighters League (PFL), and Doumbe in particular is already a superstar. But since MMA remained illegal in France until 2020, there are not as many fighters who have been training for many years to become fighters. Perhaps the talent pool is now stripped bare on the regional scene?

However, the success of fighters like St. Denis, Ciryl Gane, ‘Baki,’ Fiorot, ‘Lazy King,’ Imavov, Lapilus, and ‘The Last Pirate’ are sure to inspire a new generation of French youth to get into the sport, it happens in the country of every fighter who becomes a superstar as a mixed martial artist. Several of the French fighters currently in the UFC are good enough to potentially become champion, but it took France’s neighbor, England, a long time to find their first champion. Ciryl Gane was a Gallic interim champion, but will the French be able to find their way to true undisputed gold quicker than their rivals across the Channel did before them?

Val Dewar

Val Dewar Photo

Val was initiated into Steelers Nation from the moment he was born — his first memory is a game vs. New England from when "Slash" was QB — and doing sports writing has always been a dream career for him. In 2022 he broke into the industry by writing about combat sports for Cageside Press, and now has the opportunity to continue that work with TSN as an MMA writer, as well as get his feet wet on the Steelers beat.