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MMA: spotted after a reality show, Manon Fiorot fights in the big leagues

2021-06-04T10:54:58.722Z


Originally from Nice, the former French snowboard champion is the first French woman to have won a fight in the UFC. The powerful federation


She started by doing karate, of which she is a black belt.

Then she was, as a teenager, French snowboard champion before shining in kickboxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Thai boxing.

In 2016, before it became so fashionable, Manon Fiorot discovered MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).

An upheaval in his life.

"At the time, it was not very well known," confides the 31-year-old Niçoise today.

It was difficult to fight but there was still a French MMA team.

"

At this time, the Blues are pure amateurs, without recognition in a country which still prohibits fighting on its territory.

To get into the cage, you have to go into exile to the four corners of the world, which Manon Fiorot did: “It was with the France team that I played my first fights.

I integrated it after a discovery course in Paris where I knocked out all the opponents.

The first time I entered the cage, it was even a World Championship, direct, on behalf of the IMMAF, the international federation of the discipline.

History can remember that I started my career badly because I lost this first fight.

She laughs about it today but she learns quickly.

She took hold of the world fly belt a few weeks later.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Manon "The Beast" FIOROT 🇨🇵 (@manonfiorot_mma)

But it's a reality show on the other side of the world that turns his fate around.

“In 2019, I am asked to participate in a program in Johannesburg:

The Fighter

.

It was broadcast on the Net in Europe but it was very popular in South Africa.

Hosted by the Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC), the main MMA league on the African continent, the show resembles an MMA "Star Academy".

“We were a dozen girls locked in a center and who challenged each other not with beatings of songs but with our feet and our fists.

At the end of the season and after two months, there was only one winner: me!

"

UFC bosses say banco

In front of the screens, there are informed audiences, in particular the American pundits of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), the largest world federation of MMA. They quickly spot the Niçoise who joins the overpowered US league: “If we simplify things, yes I was spotted by the UFC thanks to this TV show after a hook by the United Arab Emirates. It's a pretty funny journey. “A path not trivial in any case which allows him to play on January 20 of this year his first fight in UFC. She defeated by KO Victoria Leonardo and became the first Frenchwoman to triumph under the flag of the UFC.

“I am the second Frenchwoman to fight in UFC.

There was Zarah Fairn before me, but she hasn't won yet, ”she says.

On Saturday, she will face Ukrainian Maryna Moroz in Las Vegas for her second fight.

“With the UFC, we enter another dimension.

It's really the biggest organization in the world, like the Champions League in football.

It is every MMA fighter's dream to end up in this organization.

"

🇫🇷 Second fight in the UFC announced for @ManonFiorot_MMA after a very convincing first 🥊



It will be on June 05 against Maryna Moroz in Las Vegas 💪 @ UFC_France pic.twitter.com/dv1zGnwysv

- SPORTRICOLORE (@sportricolore) April 14, 2021

With the league based in Las Vegas, everything changes for Fiorot, nicknamed "The Beast", the "Beast", because she puts all her rivals KO'd. “I always train in my club in Nice with the coach who has been following me from the start. When I go to fight in Vegas or Dubai, I go with my staff. The UFC offers me fights and leaves me alone in between. Nothing is imposed on me as long as I step in the ring and am ready. "Since she has her entry ticket, the Frenchwoman also lives, finally, of her sport:" Once you are at the UFC, you can live from MMA but before, it is even much more complicated. if one is professional. With the UFC, there is no obligation to look for a side job and that's pretty cool. "

And to those who tell her that MMA is not a girls' sport, Manon Fiorot replies: "Me, I am proud to have joined the UFC because it is an organization which, precisely, puts on a equality between men and women. The female combatants are put forward as much as the men: it often happens that during mixed meetings, the female fights are highlighted more than those of the boys. In terms of wages, it's the same, they are equal. "

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2021-06-04

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