A star of social media since he appeared on the Youtube channel “IbraTV”, Matthieu Letho Duclos remains above all a highly skilled fighter, renowned for his spectacular fights. Showmanship and fighting are part of his DNA, and he intends to prove it in Reims at HEXAGONE MMA 9.

Paradoxically for a professional fighter, it was as a referee that Matthieu Letho Duclos developed his image and popularity. Indeed, since 2018, he officiated amateur fights in videos that each accumulated several million views, on the Youtube channel “IbraTV”.

“I’d never refereed before so I modeled myself on what I saw at the top level. Sometimes I stopped [fights] a little too early, sometimes a little too late. But who doesn’t make mistakes? “, he explains with hindsight. “Today, although I am a professional fighter, people still associate me with that. But that’s okay! If I am called a ‘referee’, and the referee breaks jaws, that’s not bad, isn’t it?”

It must be said that the 27-year-old French Northerner is above all an athlete, who has trained extensively on the national amateur circuit since his discovery of MMA during his graduate studies.

“At the time, I really liked fighting, I sent a little without thinking”

“I used to compete in powerlifting at a national level. I qualified for the France championships, but it tired me out. I got tired of lifting weights, it’s too repetitive. So I switched to MMA without much experience. I had just done some Thai boxing. Two months after signing up I was already going down to Paris to fight with the Parisians,” he recalls. “At the time, I really liked fighting and I had a good punch. So I was striking without thinking. I put a lot on to K-Os, but it also cost me several defeats.”

A few years later, this state of mind has not left him and has proven particularly effective in the HEXAGONE MMA cage, where he has already achieved two wins before the bell.

“I have a rough instinct. So, I’m working on my combat intelligence and adaptability. I still have a long way to go!”