“MMA deserves to be watched beyond the clichés”

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) creates the event this Saturday, September 3 at the Accor Arena in Paris. During a big evening of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), the French Ciryl Gane faces the Australian Tai Tuivasa. A fight broadcast live on the L’Équipe channel (where it is not recommended for people under sixteen) and commented on the edge of the octagon by Xavier Foupa Pokam, consultant and former French champion in the discipline.

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LE FIGARO. – Xavier, why do you have to watch MMA on television?

Xavier Foupa Pokam. – Mixed Martial Arts is a universal combat sport. It combines all the sensations of combat sports. You can box or wrestle standing up, but also fight and hit the ground. It is a sport that can interest far beyond current fans. MMA is practiced all over the world.

You were yourself a great champion of this discipline, how has your sport evolved?

I have 53 professional fights on four of the five continents during my career, which started in 2001. When I started, MMA was unknown. He even had bad press. There were people who didn’t want it to develop. In Russia, however, there were complete families coming to follow the fights, parents and children. It was far from clichés. The universality of the discipline’s techniques is reflected in the diversity of the public.

Read alsoCiryl Gane: “We have a real audience and a real expectation around MMA in France”

Having become a consultant at the microphone of L’Équipe TV, do you keep the reflexes of “Professor X»as you were nicknamed when you fought in the octagon (the MMA ring)?

Yes of course. I like efficient fighters, strategy, knockout and submission, too. I am considered the French fighter with the most victories before the limit and by KO. I also like the values ​​of our sport: work, determination, sacrifice but also the pleasure that we can give to others by showing that we manage to surpass ourselves when it is difficult. I’m still “Professor X”: someone who isn’t particularly aggressive in real life, but who transformed when he fought.

Do you feel invested with a mission at the microphone of the L’Équipe channel to share your passion?

When I started commenting on MMA on television, I gave myself three missions: to evangelize and make known our sport – which deserves it – beyond the clichés, to highlight our French athletes who deserve to be known, and finally fight against doping because sportsmanship must prevail regardless of the sport we practice.