Middleweight

Despite harsh set-backs in his early career, Quentin Domergue has not lost his passion or desire to perform in mixed martial arts. Back at the top level, he approaches his next fight, on September 7 in Nantes, with confidence.

Quentin Domergue has not been in hiding. With hindsight, he readily acknowledges his past sporting mistakes.
“I started my career way too early. I had done just two years of MMA when my coach offered me a fight at professional level. I wasn’t ready, I should have tested myself on the amateur circuit. ”
The result: four consecutive defeats, and a career that could have ended there at the end of 2018, before it had even really begun. But from these unsuccessful beginnings, Quentin Domergue chose to learn lessons and move forward. The key to his approach: acceptance.
“In reality, the step-up was too high. I had never competed before, neither in MMA nor in any team sport. So to find myself abroad, in a cage, in front of an audience… I couldn’t withstand the pressure, I didn’t have the mindset. “

“I try to bring out everything that is buried inside me”

After time, work and with passion, the 30-year-old French Southerner has finally returned to battle, but this time, on a new basis.
“I don’t do it anymore to hope to become someone. I fight above all for pleasure: I like to fight and surpass myself, that’s the main thing. I don’t necessarily have a goal in the back of my head anymore. “
This state of mind seems to be paying off, since Quentin Domergue has stood undefeated across his last two fights. In the cage, he lets his instincts speak, as well as his kick-boxing techniques, which he has been working on for more than ten years.
“On a daily basis, I am a very calm, kind person. So when I fight, I try to bring out everything that is buried inside me. My confidence has returned, and so have the results. “

Having been invested in martial arts for nearly twenty years, Chabane Chaibeddra is a true enthusiast and a pillar of French MMA. More than five years after his last fight, he has chosen to return to the cage, on September 7 in Nantes, to reconnect with what he does best.

MMA is his whole life. Fighter, coach, physical trainer, corner man… At 34 years old, Chabane Chaibeddra has accumulated numerous roles and doesn’t count his hour, so long as martial arts are at the heart of any project.
“Since the beginning, my daily life has revolved around MMA. For me, it’s not just a side passion: I have five degrees in sport, I do it full-time, I’ve coached many of the best French fighters today… At one point, I gave so much of myself to coaching, I forgot that I am a good fighter too! »
It is partly for this reason that Chabane Chaibeddra has not appeared in a cage since 2018, although family life has also weighed in on the balance.
“I became a dad ten days before my last fight. So between that, injuries, cancellations… I ended up stepping away from competition. »

“We suffered so much going abroad!”

Back on front stage, Chabane Chaibeddra now wants to “leave his mark”, and enjoy an MMA which has finally been legalised on French territory.
“We suffered so much when we went abroad! Today, we can fight at home, so we have to take advantage of it. »
But the ban also provided Chaibeddra with the opportunity to demonstrate his technical versalitility across other disciplines. Competing in Muay Thai, karate and judo, Chabane Chaibeddra was able to eventually capitalise on his diverse experience by turning it to mixed martial arts.
“Before, everyone thought I was a wrestler. But with age, I’ve added a lot of striking and ground to my game. I’m a legitimate MMA fighter. »

Ambitious but realistic, Dylan Hervouin is taking advantage of the amateur circuit to accumulate maximal experience before turning pro. In Nantes, on September 7, the young Breton will have the opportunity to take his next step in this direction.

Launched in the amateur sphere, Dylan Hervouin sees each of his fights as a new opportunity to progress: No matter the size of the challenge, the Breton is always ready to face it.
“Obviously, I don’t want to lose! But we must still keep in mind that a defeat on the amateur circuit is much less problematic than a defeat at professional level. So as long as I can gain experience, I’m going to keep going. “
At 23 years old, the native of Rennes is progressing without haste, and seeks to be seasoned to the maximum before diving into the big leagues.
“My goal is to become French champion, to be able to represent my country at the European Championships and World Championships. I’m also interested in the pro circuit, but I am giving myself time. MMA is sport in which it takes time to mature.”
A wise mentality in contrast with the impatience of many young fighters.

“Everything I learn in class, I apply.”

Indeed, despite his age, Dylan Hervouin already has a very professional vision of his discipline.
“I know how to supervise my training. The optimum intensity of effort, nutrition, recovery… Everything I learn in class, I apply it.
A student in the field of sport-health, Dylan Hervouin discovered martial arts somewhat by chance… at university.
“In my first year, I had to choose a sports option, and among them was ‘MMA’. So I started like that, from an MMA notice in my newsletter! ”
The trial proved conclusive, and has opened many doors. But as Dylan Hervouin knows, “the road to the top is still long”.

Methodical and rigorous, Thomas Glot transcribes his engineering mindset over to martial arts. Bodybuilding, nutrition, sleep… Nothing is left to chance at the dawn of his big debut at HEXAGONE MMA, scheduled for September 7, in Nantes.

Thomas Glot sees sport as a real science. A graduate of an engineering school, he applies to training concepts that he has learnt from his textbooks.
“I was taught to be methodical and rigorous. For me, martial arts presents a very big project for which you have to manage every little detail. Bodybuilding, nutrition, sleep… “
At only 22 years old, the Frenchman takes things very seriously, and shows great thoroughness in his approach to combat sports.
“I started MMA when I was 13, and very quickly knew that this is what I wanted to do with my life. But at the same time, I realized that the career of a fighter was very risky, and that a professional life should not be neglected.”
Pragmatic, Thomas Glot has managed to reconcile his studies with his first outings in the cage, and can now devote himself more seriously to his fight career.
“In the future, I will put a big focus on MMA, while keeping engineering as an activity in my schedule. In two years’ time, we will see if it has paid off.”

“If I had known, I would have waited before going pro.”

Despite his young age, Thomas Glot shows a lot of maturity, and his ten years of MMA practice are certainly not for nothing.
“I started very young. In addition, I had the opportunity to train on the amateur circuit, and it brought me a lot! Besides, if I had known, I think I would have waited a little longer before going professional. Indeed, with the French MMA team, Thomas Glot was able to participate in the IMMAF European Championships as well as the IMMAF World Championships, the international flagship amateur event.
“It allowed me to compete at a high level, and make adjustments. At the time, I relied solely on my striking, and I lacked wrestling skills. But I came across a Russian who dominated the fight, and I couldn’t do anything. So we worked on that, and now, I would even say that wrestling is one of my strengths.”
Fail, learn, and progress.

Former rugby player, Gyorgy Komuves has made a beautiful transition to martial arts, to the point of starting his professional career in MMA. At 30 years old, the Hungarian is fully blossoming in his new discipline, and will fight “for glory and honor” on August 4, at HEXAGONE MMA 8.

On Gyorgy Komuves’ social media, promotional photos of his various fights rub shoulders with many publications focused on rugby, his other favorite sport. This reflects how before embarking on a martial arts career, the thirty-year-old Hungarian committed to rugby, a discipline in which he reached a good level. Digging through the archives of the specialised press, we found reports of his performances against the French team, in 2019, during an Olympic qualification tournament.
“I did ten years of rugby. But one day I had to move house, and in my new city, I joined a martial arts club. There, I felt so good that I felt like I was finding myself,” he recalls.

“I fight for glory, for honor, and for my family”

A new revelation, fighting suddenly imposed itself in the life of Gyorgy Komuves. And after two years of wrestling and three years of kickboxing, he finally chose to develop his skills in the world of MMA. Inevitably, his rugby background contributed heavily to the success of this express transition. The intensity, the impacts, the pain… Between the two disciplines, the common points are numerous, and explain the ease with which the Hungarian has acclimatized to martial arts. But at 30 years old, Gyorgy Komuves is not aiming for the stars.
“I fight for glory, for honor, and for my family. So I don’t have any particular ambitions, except that I always give my best to living each moment to its fullest”

A former high-level judoka, Adel Khaldoune eventually chose to pursue a career in mixed martial arts. Gifted, and particularly invested in his new project, he will have the opportunity to prove himself at home, on August 4, at Beziers Arena

Although he has been practicing MMA for less than two years, Adel Khaldoune already has competitive experience at the top level : A black belt in judo, he has long been part of the national team, and has won twice at the French national championships in the 1st division. This marks a real achievement in view of the density of competitors.
« I was good, but I didn’t want to make a living from judo. So when I had the opportunity to join INSEP [the French National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance], I took a different path by changing sports. As I have always been attracted to English boxing, I combined it with judo, and moved into MMA. »
The triggering factor was in fact more specific than that: During a day’s work on a construction site, Adel Khaldoune was drawn to a colleague who happened out to be a mixed martial arts teacher. “I saw that he had cauliflower ears, so since I was interested in the world of combat, I asked him a few questions. And this led me to winding up in his club! »

“Even napping I have a hard time with!”

At 24 years old, the Frenchman is now advancing in leaps and bounds in his new discipline. Undefeated on the amateur circuit, he chose to go professional in 2023, to “progress faster” and get closer to his performance goals.
“I was just waiting for the green light from my coaches! But as I’m learning quickly, I didn’t have to wait long to get my first fights. »
Determined, Adel Khaldoune trains twice a day, despite working physically as a contractor in the construction industry.
“I’m a bit hyperactive. Even napping I have trouble with! In my head, the days have to be filled to the maximum. At the same time, the Montpellier native also works on his profile, aware that MMA is now inseparable from media coverage. “On social media, it’s starting to work well!”

An African immigrant, Georges Ngoma sees martial arts as a way to survive and to build a future in France, far away from the problems that pushed him into exile. After a big career in amateur MMA, the young Congolese is now embarking on the professional circuit, in which he will make his debut on August 4 in Béziers.

The story of Georges Ngoma is written between Congo, Angola and France. Born in Kinshasa, the young man fled the first two countries in succession, finally landing in Besançon, far from the problems that pushed him to take off. And even if he does not wish to dwell on the reasons for his escape, everything suggests that it was inevitable and necessary. Be that as it may, for the time, that chapter is closed. And in the midst of all these disappointments, Georges Ngoma, 20, clings to a life rope in MMA. Currently seeking asylum, he sees martial arts as promising an outcome, and is about to start a professional career as a fighter.
“As soon as I arrived in France, I looked for a club. I think it’s also through sport that I’ll be able to get by. “

“It was a bit wild, but it trained me well”

With his background in karate, judo and traditional jiu-jitsu, Georges Ngoma is far from being the least armed in the cage. And despite a virgin record in MMA, the young man has a wealth of experience including 12 amateur fights, a championship title in Congo, and has participated in the IMMAF Worlds, under the colors of Angola.
“My strong point is my striking. I think I have good striking power! At home, we often trained without gloves and shin guards. It was a bit wild, but it trained me well.”
It remains for his successes to be transposed to the professional circuit, but for Georges Ngoma, it is not only a question of sport, but above all of “survival”.
“Right now, I’m in a hostel waiting for government help. On a daily basis, it’s complicated…”

Since fleeing his home country, Afghanistan, Shekibullah Waris has been trying to rebuild his life in France, where he began his fighting career. Undefeated on the amateur circuit, he now launches into the professional leagues in the cage of HEXAGONE MMA. His first test will be on August 4, at Beziers Arena.

It has been almost five years since he saw his family. An Afghan immigrant, Shekibullah Waris, fled his country, and came to France in 2020, after a very long journey through Europe.
“It lasted a year and a half. I traveled by car, train, sometimes on foot… It was very difficult to cross hidden borders and without papers. Having passed through Iran, Turkey and Greece, he finally stopped in France, which was more conducive to a new start.
“I needed a place to find work. When I arrived in France, I saw that it was quiet, that the people were nice, so I wanted to stay here. » A temporary asylum, before, possibly, returning to his homeland.
“At the moment, it’s too complicated to go back. I left home because I had a problem with the Taliban, who are in government. If the situation changes, I may have the chance. »

“Going pro to progress”

In the meantime, Shekibullah Waris is trying to make a name for himself in the cage. Successful on the French amateur circuit (6-0), the 25-year-old fighter is now tackling the professional world, and hopes to make his debut on August 4 at the Béziers Arena.
“Since I don’t have French nationality, I don’t have access to certain competitions. So going pro is an opportunity to continue my progress. »
Because Shekibullah Waris is relatively young in the MMA world, coming to mixed martial arts just two years ago, he has built a complete style, despite his particular appetite for striking.
“I did a few years of kung fu, and it helped me a lot,” he says. “But I still have a lot to learn! I am far from my goal. »

It is for the good of his family that Alisson Marreira moved to Europe, where he continues to fight in MMA. At only 21 years old, the young Brazilian must perform in the cage to support his two little girls, who remain far from him, in his country of origin. The fight for the lightweight belt of HEXAGONE MMA, on August 4, is an opportunity not to be missed.

Alisson Marreira continues a precocious track record: An MMA practitioner at 13, a professional fighter at 15 and a father at 21 … Just entering adulthood, the young man already carries with him the weight of a family, and responsibility for two little girls. For them, he chose to leave Brazil, his country of origin, in search of better career opportunities.
“Seven months ago, I went to live in Spain, alone, leaving behind my family, friends and daughters. I fight for their future. »
In Tenerife, where he now trains, Alisson Marreira hopes to get his career off the ground, and thus earn more money, to help his family. The gamble seems to be paying off, since the Brazilian will have the opportunity, on August 4, to win the HEXAGONE MMA world lightweight title. A golden opportunity.
“I feel blessed. This is my third championship fight since I left Brazil. I feel I made the right decision.”

“I train three times a day, every day!”

But besides his choice to emmigrate, his success is above all to be credited to hard work. Sure of his strength and ready to do anything to achieve his martial arts dreams, Alisson Marreira gives himself no respite, and dedicates all his days to training, without any additional job.
“I train three times a day, and every day!”
In the cage, the Brazilian is just as invested, as evidenced by his five fights over the last twelve months. A kickboxing specialist, Alisson Marreira brings an explosive and committed style, which pleases promoters, and has already earned him five victories by K-O, including three in the first round. It’s time for him to step up into the big leagues.

Since leaving his job a year and a half ago, Faudel Bentayeb has devoted himself fully to MMA. Convinced that he can reach new heights, the 22-year-old is active in the cage with his next outing scheduled for August 4 at Béziers Arena.

In the mind of Faudel Bentayeb, the direction is clear, and the path well marked : “I want to get to the top as quickly as possible, and excel in a big organization.”
With the passion and abandonment of youth, the 22-year-old Parisian is running headlong into an MMA career for which he has already made many sacrifices.
“A year and a half ago, I stopped working, and today I dedicate my life to martial arts. Inevitably, it was a difficult decision to make, because you never know what might happen, and I’m not sure that I’ll succeed.
In terms of his support, on the other hand, the pill went down well.
“My father is a boxing coach, he coaches a lot of amateurs, but also professionals. So as a sportsman, he understood straight away! “

“I quickly saw that it was made for me”

Moreover, it is precisely through his father that Faudel Bentayeb discovered martial arts. Introduced to the noble art in the family club, the young man took a liking to it at the age of five, and continues, even now, to attend his father’s classes. But that’s not all.
“In addition to boxing, I’ve always done judo. I’m a black belt. Except after a while, it frustrated me. In judo, you can’t throw your fists, and in boxing, you can’t use your feet. So MMA was the perfect solution, I quickly saw that it was made for me.
Symbolic of his determination to reach the top, Faudel Bentayeb is already accumulating experience in the cage, when his career has only just begun. In 2023, he has already fought three times, and does not intend to stop here.
« My goal is simple: to fight, avoid injuries, and make a living from my sport. »

Upcoming opponent Dean Garnett for the HEXAGONE MMA featherweight world title, Argentinian Lucas Corbage awaits this deadline with calm and confidence. His strong points are a high-level ground game and a disconcerting style.

He could have been a doctor but instead chose the radically different life of an MMA fighter. The difference still makes the 34 year old man smile when he looks back.

“In 2011, I had to leave Brazil, my home country, to study in Argentina, because the price of schooling was too high back home. But I dropped medicine after a year because I was not at all passionate about it.”

Martial arts, his sport of choice, took over after that: “I was far away from home, not studying and without money, so I started working in the jiu-jitsu gym where I trained. I did the administration and gave some classes. One day, kind of by chance, I shot with the professionals in the MMA group and that’s how it all started.”

Since then, Lucas Corbage has not moved. He’s still installed in the same room in Buenos Aires and he has chosen to represent Argentina for his professional career.

“There are few fighters here, so we are a little bit more valued. In Brazil, I would be just another sportsman.”

“What interests me the most is the path, not the endgame”

Heading into his biggest martial arts challenge yet on June 3rd for the HEXAGONE MMA featherweight belt, Lucas Corbage isn’t overly excited.

“I’m more interested in the path, not the endgame. Everyone has great ambitions, and I do too, but I trust time. I don’t want everything right away. I want to work to succeed and show the way to the young people I coach.”

In the cage, the Buenos Aires fighter can in any case count on many skills, starting with his high level ground game.

“As I started with jiu-jitsu, and I have a black belt, it is definitely my strong point. But I realize that I am also a very difficult fighter to beat, because I have a really weird style! I don’t have a very academic boxing style, I change my guard all the time… It can be surprising.”

While he is surfing on an impressive momentum, Wilson Varela hopes to conquer the HEXAGONE MMA lightweight world title on August 4 in Béziers, with another victory before the bell, and confirm his reputation as an outstanding finisher.

Watching Wilson Varela move, hit, and send his opponents to the mat, you’d think he’s been boxing since childhood. In reality, it’s quite the opposite: originally trained in sambo, the Portuguese fighter honed his striking later to correct his main weakness and succeed in his transition to MMA. In acquiring a bases behind the punching bags, Wilson Varela has worked hard, to the point of committing for five years to a kickboxing career, marked by thirty professional fights. It was only in 2021 that the young talent redirected himself to mixed martial arts, metamorphosised.

“I have total confidence in my strikes,” he said today, at 27.

And this confidence is backed by his performance. Winner of his last three fights before the bell, including a K-O in just 20 seconds, Wilson Varela has asserted himself as a true finisher, particularly sharp when the fight is settled standing.

“My victories are owed to my defeats”

“Right now, I’m successful. But all these victories are owed to my defeats. I had nights without sleep, great moments of doubt, long conversations with my coach… In the end, I learned, and I managed to move forward. »

A sound mentality for an intelligent, quadrilingual young man who draws his education from the three cultures in which he grew up.

“I was born in Cape Verde, but I spent my childhood in Portugal. And at 15, I finally arrived in France. When I arrived, I had left my whole life behind me overnight. I was supposed to be going to join the training centre for Sporting Portugal, Ronaldo’s football club, but I wanted to stay with my father and brother (in France), so I dropped out. He could have had a completely different career, but is now fully satisfied with martial arts, even if “MMA does not pay all the bills yet”.

So he alternates: sports coach in the morning, fighting in the afternoon. “I can juggle the two, so everything is fine.”

Since he left his job to fully engage in mixed martial arts, Mathieu Rakotondrazanany has been training relentlessly, hoping to turn his big risk into a winning bet. The opportunity offered by HEXAGONE MMA is a springboard not to be missed.

From the outside, Mathieu Rakotondrazanany’s life is far from being the most hectic in the world. “I’m not someone who likes to go out. I prefer to stay quietly at home, enjoy what I have, my family. I’m pretty simple, and martial arts are a very big part of my life. I don’t do much besides training.” Dedicating his heart to the discipline, the Frenchman originally from Malagasy explained he spends his life between Narbonne, where he lives, and Toulouse or Montpellier, where he trains. “I counted, in total, that I do 13 hours of training per week!” If he can afford it, it’s because Mathieu Rakotondrazanany, 27, has put all his eggs into the MMA basket.

“I remain very comfortable standing”

“I’m banking a lot on this career. I stopped working to train twice a day. I give myself the means to succeed. It’s now or never!”
This marks a continuation of a sports career that began very young, with taekwondo punctuated by excursions into French boxing and Thai boxing. “Of course, I had to adapt my taekwondo to MMA, but I am still most comfortable on my legs. A pure striker’s style is that he tries to apply pressure as possible in the cage: In the past year, Mathieu Rakotondrazanany has had four professional outings, perfectly illustrating his desire to succeed. He concludes, “It’s simple, I do everything I can to build myself a good career.”

An experienced athlete, Karla Benitez has cumulated 40 professional MMA fights. But outside the cage, the Venezuelan is also a committed woman, who does not hesitate to put her martial experience to the service of others.

When she’s asked about her age, Karla Benitez answers with pride: “I am 44 years old, but I am as fit as a 20 year old”. A glance at her record of achievements is enough to see that the Venezuelan has crossed generations over the years to finally face the best fighters in her category. “Out of 38 fights, I have three against UFC champions. I don’t know if there are many of us who have experienced that!” Germaine de Randamie, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Weili Zhang… Throughout her career, Karla Benitez has not necessarily chosen the easiest path, but has always stuck to one principle, which she identifies as the secret of her enduring youth: “the will”. “I fight, I am hungry, I make sacrifices! Since Venezuela is not very developed in terms of MMA, I spend the other half of my time in Spain to train. That’s where my husband and daughter live.”

“Being a mother and fighter is really not so complicated!”

While she dedicates a large part of her days to martial arts, Karla Benitez has not abandoned her other life as a woman. “Being a mother and a fighter is really not so complicated! My daughter also trains in MMA and she always travels with me when I go abroad. Besides that, as my coach was absent for my last fight, it was my daughter who was in my corner!”

After becoming a mother, there also came a heavy working period for Benitez: For almost twenty years, Karla Benitez worked to support female victims of domestic violence, “a big problem in Spain”.

“With my experience in combat sports, I also teach self defense in an association. It’s important to get involved in causes that matter to us.”

Benitez is truly a role model both in and out of the cage.

A former member of the parachute commandos, Frankie Rollandt has put his military experience to the service of martial arts. Fighting is in his DNA, and he intends to prove it, on August 4th at HEXAGONE MMA 8.

In the cage, Frankie Rollandt advances almost without any sense of pressure.This is not surprising for a former military man used to fighting against terrorism on the African continent: “I did 13 years in the Parachute Commandos Group. In terms of risk factor, it’s not bad. Let’s just say that I’ve been close to a correctional sentence more than once. And in terms of stress management, it has helped me a lot when it comes to MMA.”

In fact, it was during an operation in Kosovo in 2007 that Frankie Rollandt discovered mixed martial arts.

“One of my superiors was watching a Pride video, and when I saw it, I thought I’d give it a try. So we started practising together,” recalls the 36-year-old veteran.

Afterwards, and for more than ten years, Frankie Rollandt continued with improvised training sessions often in exotic settings: Mali, Niger, Central Africa… “I always found the time. Even when I went on a mission, I would take two pairs of gloves with me and I would arrange to have someone to train with.

“I will enjoy the few good years that I have left”.

A competitor at heart, the Frenchman did not wait to leave the army to launch his career in the cage, a choice that at times has led to failures. “It’s true that I wasn’t necessarily in the best condition. I would be on the ground two days before my fight, outside asking a colleague to hold my pads!”

But those days are over. Since last summer, Rollandt has put away his uniform and now devotes himself fully to his sport, without the restrictions of his former life. “The years go by, and I felt like doing something else. Even if the commando spirit brought me into MMA, it represented a lot of constraints. Now, I want to give my all to the sport and enjoy the few good years that remain.”

A proud representative of New Caledonia, where her heritage is rooted, Stéphanie Ielö Page will be representing her people in the cage at HEXAGONE MMA 8. Her main weapon, honed by years of practice, is her kickboxing.

With each of her victories, Stéphanie Ielö Page proudly wraps herself in the blue, red and green flag of FLNKS, New Caledonia’s Kanak independence party. The 34-year-old fighter does it to represent her mother’s origins which are reflected in her middle name, which “nobody pronounces correctly”. “They follow me a lot over there. As it is a small overseas department, they are very happy to be represented. I know that my fights are often in the newspapers.” Far from her roots, Stéphanie Ielö Page was born and raised in Brest, where she still lives and trains today at the Boxing Lab. “For a while, I lived in Paris, because it was easier for boxing. But two years ago, I came back to Bretagne, and we created this club”, she said. Before successfully converting to MMA, the Caledonian striker had already reached the highest level of martial arts, winning five world championships in Thai boxing and four world titles in K1.

“Outside martial arts, I’m a fishwife”

Inevitably, her performances in the cage were preceded by long hours of learning wrestling and jiu-jitsu, two disciplines “completely unknown” before her transition.
“My first MMA fight, I lost on an arm lock, but I had never experienced ground and pound before. So I said to myself, ‘Maybe we’ll have to insist on that,'” she smiles today. “It’s still a weak point, but since then I’ve adapted my boxing to it. My work in training relies a lot on dodging takedowns.”
To continue her progression and optimize her fight camps, Stephanie Ielö Page is also fortunate to have a very advantageous work schedule. “Outside martial arts, I am a fishmonger, so I do the markets in the morning. When I came back from Paris, I was looking for a job, and I thought I could try this. But I didn’t know anything about it, so I started from scratch. I had to learn how to make the nets and to recognize the fish! The advantage is that my boss is very understanding. When I ask her for a few days to go and fight abroad, she always agrees.”

Former wrestling and WWE star, Jack Claffey is now tackling mixed martial arts. Accustomed to very big events, the British fighter is confidently preparing his debut in the HEXAGONE MMA cage, on August 4th, in Béziers.

Jack Claffey has the art of reconciling extremes. An MMA fighter and philosophy graduate, bare knuckle enthusiast and great poetry reader… “I think I’m a little bit weird,” he admitted with a laugh. “I’m always trying to balance it all out.” In tracing the career of the 33-year-old Briton, another detail stands out: his past as a wrestler. In fact, for five years, he provided a show for the WWE, the renowned American league of mythical halls and crowded stadiums. “My biggest show, I think it was in front of 50,000 people in Texas. Before entering, I had only one thing in mind, not to stumble! In the end, I learned a lot from this experience. I am able to focus very well on what I have to do and the noise of the public doesn’t bother me anymore. I can be booed or applauded, it makes no difference to me. This is another asset when it comes to starting a career in MMA.

“I have also fought in bare knuckle”

Jack Claffey had already in fact fought as an amateur in MMA in the mid-2010s but recently chose to return more seriously to the sport..
“Through my years as a wrestler, I continued to train in boxing and jiu-jitsu at a very good gym in Miami. So when my contract with WWE ended, I already knew I wanted to try something in MMA. I’m giving it my all, I want to see what level I can reach.”
Regardless, skill-wise, Jack Claffey has everything it takes to perform at the highest level. Trained in wrestling from a young age, the Briton – from Manchester – has gradually opened up to other disciplines, adding striking to wrestling sports.
“People think I’m a wrestler, but don’t forget that I’ve also fought bare knuckle! I’ve worked tremendously on my boxing.”
Add in the hint of madness that characterizes Jack Claffey, you get the full picture.

Author of a dazzling K-O in January at HEXAGONE MMA 6, Dean Garnett will be back in the cage on June 3rd, aiming to take the organization’s featherweight belt. This marks a particularly symbolic challenge for the British talent.

As soon as he arrived on HEXAGONE MMA’s roster, at the beginning of 2023, Dean Garnett clearly stated his ambition: “to take the HEXAGONE MMA belt”. This is something that the Englishman wishes and aspires to. He will try to win the world featherweight title on June 3rd in Béziers, against the Argentine Lucas Corbage. This opportunity is beyond significant for the native of Liverpool after five years of competitive inactivity. Stronger than ever, he placed a lightning K-O just a few seconds after his comeback fight started in the cage of the Zenith of Paris on January 22nd, proving his talent is still there. At 34, the former British prospect is now a validated fighter whose rise seems inevitable. Because in the case of Dean Garnett, competitive inactivity does not equate with sporting inactivity. Indeed, over the past five years, he has not stopped training hard to refine his game, while developing the Aspire Combat Sport Academy, the gym he owns in his hometown.

“When you make other people work, you also work yourself”

Dean Garnett is not only a talented athlete. He’s also a renowned coach who has helped several young fighters in the country rise to prominence. Chief among them is Muhammad Mokaev, currently ranked in the top 15 in his weight class in the UFC. “I think we have the best amateur team in England right now, but also a lot of high-level professionals. The beauty of coaching is that even when you’re working with others, you’re working yourself. I’m constantly with great fighters and I’m a much better fighter myself than I was before.”
In addition to his sharp striking, which he recently demonstrated, the “scouser” is also formidable on the ground, as evidenced by the jiu-jitsu black belt he is set to receive very soon. “While I was away, I gained a lot of wisdom and knowledge. I have four or five years left at the highest level and I intend to make the most of it.” His opponents have been warned.

Soufiene Oudina hails from Hem, near Lille in north of France, and has built his career far from Paris and the capital’s facilities. But this hasn’t prevented him from reaching the highest level and making it into the ranks of HEXAGONE MMA, for whom he will make his debut on July 28th.

Martial arts gave Soufiene Oudina the chance to “change his life”. “When I was young, after my studies, I stopped everything: I stopped working, I made small mistakes and I had my small worries… But one day, I questioned myself, and I started MMA to give myself a framework and get back into shape.”
One thing led to another and what started as a hobby became a passion, to the point of pushing him towards a career in the cage. “At first, I agreed to take just one fight. But I got hooked on the game, and it has been going on for 10 years now!”
And yet, in Hem, where he grew up, Soufiene Oudina wasn’t given any shortcuts.
“Life there is, in some aspects,more difficult than elsewhere, so a lot of people don’t make it through. At the time, MMA was developing mainly in Paris and it took more time for it to be developed elsewhere.”
Despite a context that doesn’t encourage performance, Soufiene Oudina has built a solid environment around him, that includes boxing lessons with former Olympic vice-champion Daouda Sow, who hails from a nearby town.

“People are always reminding me of my age”.

“I’d say I’m a complete fighter, who works in all of the areas of the game to be able to respond in every situation. I don’t have any specific strong points but I define myself above all as a finisher.”
At 39 years of age, and with 90% of his victories coming before the bell, the Franco-Algerian sets himself no limits.
“My aim is to fight as hard as I can, and to enjoy myself. “People are always reminding me of my age, but the reality is that I have never felt so fit!”
Through sport, Soufiene Oudina also hopes to set an example for the younger Algerian generation to whom he’s very attached.
“In remote towns like the one that I come from, there’s a lack of structures and resources. I want to show that, despite the situation, you can make a career in sport. When I go to Algeria, I don’t hesitate to visit the various clubs and train with the locals.”

Despite a career built with limited means, Cédric Severac has steadily honed his martial arts skills over the past twenty years. A spectacular boxer with great punching power, he intends to showcase his progress at HEXAGONE MMA 10 on July 28th.

“If I wrote a book about my career, people wouldn’t even believe me.”
At the age of 39, Cédric Severac’s sporting life is brimming with anecdotes, each one more memorable than the last. It has to be said that the Castrais native, a pure product of the south-west, has been competing on the French martial arts circuit for over two decades. So of course, he has experienced dozens of highs and lows, especially since in his native region, any sport other than rugby fades into second place..
“This is the rugby capital of the world, and it has always been difficult for fighters. For a while, in the summer, I didn’t have access to an open hall: I used to prepare for major fights in a 9m squared garage! So now, to boost local MMA, I’m purposely training in the area, to show that even if we stay at home, we can still compete with the best teams in the country.”

“My big strength is English boxing”.

Cédric Severac built his career on a shoestring, traveling from one club to the other, sometimes covering over 1,000 kilometers in a day to fight. All while maintaining a day job working on building sites.
“We’d leave in a van on Saturday to fight on Saturday evening, and we’d get back in the night to be back at the site on Monday morning”, he recalled, happy to have lived through an unimaginable era for today’s young guns. “It all demanded an enormous amount of sacrifice, but I did it out of passion.”
Attracted to combat sports since his teenage years, Cédric Severac has never wanted to confine himself to a single discipline. Boxing, Muay Thaï, kempo, bare knuckle… The southerner has evolved according to his desires at the time, building a good striker’s style in the process.
“My big strength in MMA is English boxing. I can put an elephant out with my right! On the other hand, for a long time I was lacking in my wrestling and ground skills. But I’m correcting that, and it’s going much better.”
Severac is ready for a new challenge.

Coming back from a dark past that included a long period in prison, Gianluca Locicero now sees martial arts as a way of getting away from bad company. At 46, the Italian is keen to make up for lost time, and will put on a show in the cage on July 28th against Greg MMA.

Digging into Gianluca Locicero’s biography, the terms “robbery”, “underworld” and “detention” come up several times. A troubled past that the 46-year-old Italian doesn’t attempt to hide when he says, “even though prison was a very difficult ordeal, I came out of it as a better person”.

So, for him, martial arts provides a way now of escaping a harmful environment, and legally expressing his love of physical confrontation.

“I’ve always fought in soccer stadiums to support the team from my hometown, Padova. I was a hooligan for a long time, although I’ve calmed down since then. Gianluca Locicero also puts this taste for “brawling” into practice on the pitches of Florentine calcio, a traditional Italian sport dating back to the 15th century, combining combat and ball games.

“To stop opponents, you can use techniques from boxing, wrestling, rugby, etc. There are no limits.”

“I’m looking forward to settling down in the league”.

In MMA, the framework is certainly stricter, but when Gianluca Locicero steps into the cage, it goes without saying that he always brings the show with him. Despite his Greco-Roman wrestling credentials, the Italian’s striking power and ability to create chaos are what really counts. The result is a perfect 100% first-round finish ratio, which he hopes to maintain at HEXAGONE MMA.
“I’m approaching fifty, and before every fight I always tell myself it’s my last. But as soon as I’m out of it, I want to keep going! So this time, I’m looking forward to settling down in the league and showing what I’m worth.”
It’s also a way for Gianluca Locicero to make up for time lost due to his run-ins with the law.
“I started my professional career at 40. So now it’s MMA, MMA and MMA! I am giving it everything to succeed.”