She will not be on board a Thalys this Thursday, checking tickets to Brussels or Amsterdam.
Laëtitia Blot, 37-year-old train manager in civilian life, will ride for the first time in the octagon in Vitry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne).
Where the first official MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) gala takes place from 7 p.m., since the discipline in competition was legalized last February.
The former French judo and wrestling champion explains why she engages in this extreme combat sport that she has been practicing since 2019, at Science Duca (Marseille) and Obyfight (Vitry).
She also denounces the prejudices surrounding her new passion.
After judo and wrestling, why are you embarking on a new career, in MMA?
LAETITIA BLOT.
For the challenge.
They picked me up last October.
David Ducanovic of Science Duca persuaded me for a whole evening, over a drink, to take the plunge because I had an important technical background.
He assured me that MMA was not as dangerous as it was claimed, told me that it was going to be legalized in France, knowing that I had all the qualities to break through.
But aren't you a little afraid to play this extreme combat sport?
At first, I thought about my face, I didn't want anyone to damage it.
But I was convinced once again that it was no more dangerous than any other sport.
In judo, I have already opened an arch, we sometimes have the shoulders that jump, a rupture of the cruciate ligaments in one knee… In MMA, we can be apprehensive because there is blood that spurts out but it doesn't is not that which will hold me back.
We put on a bandage and it's good (
laughs
).
And the referee can stop the fight at any time.
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PODCAST. MMA, what legalization will change
Did the possibility of making money count in your decision making, knowing that MMA is much more lucrative than judo or wrestling?
It's not my engine, if you think about it, you're lost.
Obviously, my goal is to go as high as possible, so the money will come with it.
It could reduce my workload at Thalys.
But before you see each other on a mountain of gold, there is still a lot of work to do.
I'm only new to MMA, you can't bet on a racehorse without being sure of its value.
But once again, it's more of a new challenge after having vegetated, having fallen a little into depression after the end of a relationship which was initially supposed to allow me to build a family… I missed the adrenaline of high performance sport. also.
So here you are at the first official gala in France ...
It's a source of pride because I am trusted on the first event.
I hope to prove my qualities to those who called me crazy when I decided to take the plunge.
Exactly, what would you say to those who could be critical of the fact that a woman is involved in this discipline?
We allow men to practice synchronized swimming
(laughs
)!
More seriously, how can we advocate equality between men and women with such force and insistence, and wonder when a woman chooses an allegedly unconventional path?
The taste for challenge, effort, or self-sacrifice, is not a male value, and it does not matter how it is expressed.
And I reassure everyone: my femininity is not in the least upset.
Bringing together this new passion and your job at Thalys should not be easy ...
Sometimes I wonder how I find the strength to go for a run at 6 am before I leave for work.
Or to go and train with 80 kg boys after work in the evening.
Why can MMA be a real success in France?
Already, it is not a wild sport, we are all normal people who work and try to associate this passion with it.
Afterwards, MMA is the Grail of all martial arts since it includes all combat sports.
And the show is there.
