M6 will launch “La MMA Academy” on its future M6 streaming platform, a reality TV show dedicated to MMA, a growing combat sport, with the participation of French champions Manon Fiorot and Morgan Charrière, the audiovisual group announced on Wednesday.
The pitch? The young MMA organization KOF (King of Fighters) and its founder, multiple world kickboxing champion Jérôme Le Banner, are “going in search of future MMA champions”, in partnership with the French Arts Federation mixed martial arts. “After a national casting”, the director of the academy, the former MMA fighter and internet star Grégory Bouchelaghem (aka GregMMA), as well as the coaches Manon Fiorot and Morgan Charrière, two of the current big French names in the discipline, “will select and train the best fighters”.
Objective, “to see them compete during an exceptional gala live from a major city in France”. This project confirms the growing appetite of the media for mixed martial arts (MMA according to their English acronym), a mixture of foot-and-fist boxing and wrestling which was only legalized in France in 2020, after having dragged on an image for a long time. sulfurous.
Initially followed by fans who had to chase rare video cassettes for a long time, this sport is now also conquering a new, younger audience thanks to the internet and social networks. In September 2022, France hosted for the first time fights from the largest MMA organization in the world, the UFC, whose clashes are broadcast by RMC Sport.
Two posters eagerly awaited by French MMA fans are taking place this week. On the night of Saturday to Sunday, Frenchman Benoît Saint-Denis will face American Dustin Poirier in Miami, as part of the UFC.
Before that, on Thursday, a fight organized at Paris-Bercy by another league, the PFL, will pit two French stars, Cédric Doumbé and the young hopeful Baissangour “Baki” Chamsoudinov.