In recent years, France has been one of the few countries in Western Europe where MMA remains illegal, in part due to the influence of its prominent Judo federation and a general lack of regulation. As of 2020, however, the sport became legal, and that transition couldn’t have come at a better time. There’s been a significant uptick of UFC fighters from France in recent years, most notably from Paris’ MMA Factory, which first helped Francis Ngannou rise up the ranks before he relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Now that the sport is actually allowed, UFC has been hinting at its first event in France for some time. Details are starting to emerge, and first reports indicate that UFC will be heading to Paris on September 3. The targeted main event? French kickboxer Ciryl Gane vs. Australian slugger Tai Tuivasa!
That is a terrible match up for Tai.
Its Taim !
Zero pressure on Tai Tuivasa. Nothing to lose.
All the pressure on Gane in his home town in Paris. Everything go lose.
Going to be interesting. However Gane is so mentally solid that nothing ever bothers him. He’s having fun in there too!
It is.
But a Tuivasa upset will get him a title shot, no question. And a loss for Gane would be a considerable setback, but the HW division has so little depth that it wouldn’t make a huge difference, I guess.
yup
Seems like it might be scheduled too far out. We’ll see what happens.
I hope that’s how it goes for Tua in this fight against CG but it seems tailor-made for CG to land the cleaner strikes and win.
Gane has already won an interim belt, several headlining fights and fought a huge HW unification fight against Ngannou for the pride of his country. This wont be bigger than that even if it is in France.
Tai hasnt fought a headliner before. Hasnt made the big money fights yet. A win puts him in line for that. A loss takes him back to the middle of the pack behind Gane, Aspinall, Blaydes, Stipe, Jones.
Pressure? More to lose? I dont know. Even?
Ngannou couldnt catch Gane and had to rely on wrestling to win rounds. Gane could outpoint Tai from distance or outgrapple and sub him.
Yeah Floppy , I hate posting news 4 to 5 months out but
The UFC‘s long-awaited French debut has been confirmed, with the promotion set to get a taste of the Parisian streets on September 3.
Having taken the Octagon across Europe, which has seen events go down in England, Sweden, Poland, Denmark, Germany, and Czech Republic, among others, the MMA leader is set to host a card on French soil for the very first time later this year, with Paris’ Accor Arena the destined setting.
The event was officially announced by Bruce Buffer in a video uploaded to the UFC France Twitter account. While we don’t speak French, we can imagine what the renowned announced said…