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How the first UFC Paris wrote history: the story of an extraordinary evening

2022-09-05T05:17:56.726Z


REPORT – In a palace of Bercy filled to the ceiling and white-hot, French fighters and public signed the most sensational entry of a nation into the world of mixed martial arts.


It was specified to journalists with very Anglo-Saxon clarity that it was strictly forbidden for them to show their support for any combatant whatsoever.

The ace.

When Benoît Saint-Denis entered the Accor Arena, the row where the local print media tuned in to the room.

The first two fights had taken place when more than three-quarters of the seats were already taken, which is remarkable for a preliminary card.

Two fighters faced each other in a (a little) boring first fight, then a Lebanese fighter was declared a technical knockout by the referee a little too quickly for his taste.

His few compatriots had given everything for this fight.

They no longer had a voice.

There were still nine fights left.

Sport is cruel.

To read alsoCiryl Gane: "We have a real audience and a real expectation around MMA in France"

Benoît Saint-Denis is a former special forces operator, in the first parachute regiment of marine infantry, whose motto is "

Who dares wins

".

There was a beautiful symbol in the fact that...

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Source: lefigaro

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