Martial arts: At Parnasse, MMA is out of the cage

Under the gaze of one of his coaches, Elias Boudegzdame, Malek Benmoussa torments Rondeau to the ground. FREE NOON – ALEXIS BETHUNE

Impressive and in control on the ground, Michaël Aljarouj dominated Ramani. FREE NOON – ALEXIS BETHUNE

Le combat entre Lopes, qui assène ici un coup de coude, et Poiron aura été le plus spectaculaire de la soirée. MIDI LIBRE – ALEXIS BETHUNE

Ce samedi 27 janvier 2024, le gala de MMA (arts martiaux mixtes) organisé à Nîmes, au Parnasse, a connu un franc succès populaire. Show devant !

Saturday evening, at Parnasse, taste buds (guests at the table around the octagon) and pupils (nearly 3,000 spectators) remained alert for the Jungle Strike Championship (1st edition), MMA gala (mixed martial arts) organized in Nîmes by Jordan Kapa. The menu was anything but indigestible.

There was everything in the cage: spectacle, sweat, blood… Outside the octagon, too, nothing was missing. And especially not the lucid analysis, after 25 efforts, of the Jungle Strike champion (- 57 kg), Michaël Aljarouj. ''Even though I know that I was capable of finishing it, my knee (twisted in the 1st round) did not hold, was throbbing, at the end of the Main Event against Liridon Ramani, the licensee of the old school Team (Villecresnes), belt around his waist. I wanted to ensure victory. I won on “decision” (wrestling) and even though I made the fighting boring, I don't care about that. It's me who takes the hits, it's my health in the cage.''

The “master class” from Benmoussa

This is also what must have been said – well, if he had time – Anthony Rondeau after receiving a lesson from the hands and feet of Malek Benmoussa. The hook to the liver in the first round was too much for Rondeau, who remained lying on the ground recovering for almost as long as the fight had lasted. ''Everything that was done in the cage was worked on with my coaches, explained the Montpellier-born Benmoussa, who came in with a bang. Anyway, he tried to take me to the ground and, by 30”, I was behind his back… it's the “good school”, I'm a pure product of the “good school”.''

Lopez against Poiron, that's also MMA

At the right address, the Toulouse Mathieu Chaumont, warned five days before the fight, found himself there in Nîmes, performing David “The Surprise” Karp… surprised by a diving direct and knocked out instantly (2nd round). In the women's fight, Morgane Dehaye “quietly” strangled the Spanish Order to win by submission.
And what can we say, finally, about the fight between the Brazilian Lopes and the Frenchman Poiron, MMA GP belt at stake (5 x 5’). The most spectacular of the evening. And one where the South American finished the less tired of the two, a final direct left in the 4th round sending Poiron… to sleep (KO). On Saturday, it was Parnassus who woke up to MMA.
 

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