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\nHexagone MMA is eyeing European expansion after success in
\nFrance. | \ud83d\udcf7: Edward Berthelot\/Getty<\/p>\n
Hexagone Founded in 2021 by brothers Jerome and Laurent Pourrut, Hexagone How Hexagone MMA became one of France\u2019s fastest-growing “I’ve been working around MMA for an extremely long time, since Hexagone MMA sets sights on European expansion after French “We’re very strong in France, but we also have a fully Hexagone MMA and Ares FC share ownership but remain rivals “It’s not a merger at all; it has nothing to do with that,\u201d Pourrut How UFC France and MMA legalization changed the sport\u2019s “MMA has been legalized since 2020, so we’re only in the sixth year French MMA prepares for a new era with an independent “The French federation will become independent at the end of the Hexagone was supposed to return on Aug. 7, but the card was “I’m extremely disappointed to have canceled the event at the Roman At the moment, there’s no official news on whether the card will be “It’s in our DNA to spot the French gems of MMA. You see, we Hexagone MMA\u2019s goal: become a European MMA success story “Beyond Hexagone MMA, I want to present MMA first and foremost as a This interview was conducted in French and translated into
\nMMA<\/a> has set its ambitions high for the coming years.<\/p>\n
\nMMA has quickly established itself as one of the main mixed martial
\narts promotions in France. To date, the France-based organization
\nhas held 49 events and overseen roughly 326 bouts. While speaking
\nwith Sherdog.com, Hexagone co-founder Jerome Pourrut discussed the
\norigins of the successful French promotion, its plans for the
\ncoming years, the challenges facing MMA in France, the news of a
\nsingle investment fund taking over two rival organizations,
\n
\nAres Fighting Championship<\/a> and Hexagone, the up-and-coming
\nfaces of the local scene, and more.<\/p>\n
\npromotions
\n
\nPourrut’s passion for MMA long predates Hexagone. He previously ran
\na company that distributed TV rights not only for MMA, but also for
\nother combat sports and professional wrestling. That’s when he
\napproached Cage
\nRage<\/a>, the British promotion that featured many MMA pioneers,
\nincluding future
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> titleholders Anderson
\nSilva<\/a>, Vitor
\nBelfort<\/a> and Michael
\nBisping<\/a>, among many others who competed under the British
\nbanner. At its peak, Cage Rage was England’s top league, filling
\nWembley. The passion it sparked lit the flame that would eventually
\nbecome Hexagone.<\/p>\n
\n2005, with my brother,\u201d Pourrut told Sherdog. \u201cWe told ourselves
\nthat as soon as MMA got legalized, we’d set up a league here in
\nFrance. There were attempts to legalize MMA in 2010, then in 2016,
\nbefore finally reaching legalization in 2020. But in 2020, there
\nwas Covid-19, so we waited until 2021 to launch Hexagone. The name
\nisn’t a reference to the fighting surface, but rather to France.
\nThey say France is a hexagonal country. Our idea was to bring MMA
\nto the six corners of the Hexagon. You can see it clearly today: we
\nwent to Lille, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Aix, Lyon, Strasbourg, and of
\ncourse Paris, and we’re going to Toulouse. So if you look at the
\nshape of France, we went absolutely everywhere. It’s true that MMA,
\nor combat sports in general, have always been centered on Paris.
\nAnd our will, precisely, was to bring this magnificent sport
\neverywhere in France.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nsuccess
\n
\nIt’s clear Hexagone’s ambition goes beyond national borders. Since
\n2021, the French promotion has also hosted events in the United
\nArab Emirates, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary and Belgium. The
\nstrategy, apparently, is to expand across Europe over the next few
\nyears. While Pourrut prefers to keep most of the names of the new
\ncountries under wraps, the list looks set to grow in 2027, adding
\ncountries like Switzerland and Spain.<\/p>\n
\ninternational broadcast across 150 countries, with partners,
\nbroadcasters, and very strong TV networks in certain countries. And
\nin those countries where we’re extremely strong, we’ll choose to go
\nthere in 2027. I won’t name them all, because I prefer to announce
\nthem officially. But right now, for example, what I can tell you is
\nthat in Germany we have very strong broadcasters, Bild and Dazn.
\nWe’ve already been to Hungary, so our wish is, of course, to go
\nback with Arena 4, our broadcaster there. In Serbia, we also have
\nTV Arena, which is extremely strong, extremely powerful. We want to
\ngo to Switzerland. We’d also like to take a little tour over to
\nSpain. So our vision is that by 2028, we’ll be a predominant player
\non the European MMA scale. We operate with a logic of both
\nidentification and a will always to aim higher. We were a bit of
\nthe underdog of MMA in France. Today, I reckon we’re number one by
\nthe number of shows we produce per year and by the number of
\nspectators we draw into our arenas. That’s to say we fill an arena
\nto the tune of 12,000 people in a single venue. We’re on figures
\ncomparable to the biggest international and European leagues. So
\nwe’re working to go in that direction. Our latest event, Hexagone
\nMMA 45, had 137 million views across our Instagram, Facebook, and
\nTikTok alone. We have all the metrics indicating this push of
\nHexagone across French territory, which we want to replicate on a
\nEuropean scale.”<\/p>\n
\n
\nInvestment fund Slam
\nnow controls the two major MMA promotions in France<\/a>, Ares and
\nHexagone. For the moment, the two will continue operating as
\nseparate entities. Pourrut confirmed there is no intention for them
\nto merge, at least not on his end. At the same time, Ares and
\nHexagone are competing for the same market.<\/p>\n
\nstated. \u201cAres stays Ares, Hexagone stays Hexagone. The difference
\nis the investment fund Slam, which took a 51% stake in Hexagone
\nMMA. The leadership, the people, remain the same inside Hexagone
\nMMA. Our will remains the same. Ares remains Hexagone MMA’s
\ncompetitor. We have no interest in playing it as a group. I have no
\ninterest, and I’m one of the shareholders of Hexagone MMA. We just
\nshare the investment fund Slam, but each company and each league
\nhas its own vision. Ares is much more centered on Paris. We go
\neverywhere in France; we go abroad. So it’s two completely
\ndifferent identities, totally different teams. Think of a football,
\nrugby, or basketball club. Yes, there are common investors, but the
\nleagues follow two quite distinct trajectories.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nlandscape
\n
\nThe local MMA scene has changed since
\nJan. 1, 2020, the day of MMA’s legalization in France<\/a>, but most
\nimportantly since the UFC held its first event on French soil in
\n2022. Since then, the Nevada-based promotion has run three more
\nevents, with another coming this year on Sept. 5, when highly
\ntouted French prospect Salahdine
\nParnasse<\/a> makes his promotional debut against Dan Hooker<\/a>.
\nOf course, the fact that Ciryl Gane<\/a>
\nhas captured the interim UFC heavyweight championship on two
\nseparate occasions has also helped the movement significantly.<\/p>\n
\nof our sport’s legalization. Because it’s true we won’t count 2020,
\nwith the coronavirus. And today, when you look at the figures for
\nMMA, they’re exceptional. Here I’m not talking about Hexagone MMA,
\nI’m talking about the sport. We’re talking about a sport that’s
\nable to hold events thanks to the UFC. It is a very fine thing to
\nsee the UFC in France, because it validates France as, let’s say, a
\nstronghold of MMA. But above all, it’s since the UFC came to France
\nthat the topic shifted from a sport for the curious asking \u2019why is
\nthere a cage, can you do anything in a cage, are there no rules?\u2019,
\nto a sport that has been legitimized. Now, where France needs to
\nmake an effort, I think, is to keep structuring our sport, to keep
\nmaking sure more and more young people sign up at MMA clubs, and
\nthat there are more and more clubs available everywhere in France.
\nAnd there you go: it’s difficult, long work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nfederation
\n
\nToday, the French boxing commission oversees MMA. Pourrut is also
\npart of the MMA commission, and he sounded pleased that next year
\nit will detach from the boxing administration. While it’s too early
\nto say what will change at the local level, or whether the split
\nwill bring more funding for MMA, some things will surely change in
\n2027.<\/p>\n
\nyear. So that too is extremely important. Things are going to
\nchange, and I hope this will allow MMA’s development to continue in
\nthe right direction, to structure the amateurs and the clubs, and
\nalso allow the French leagues to develop and stand side by side
\nwith the federation. So that’s work that has to be accomplished.
\nOur federation needs more financial and human resources. Because
\nit’s true we belong to another federation, but we also need
\nindependence to be able to make certain decisions. So that, I
\nthink, is an extremely important point in the development of our
\nsport.”<\/p>\n
\ncanceled due to the heatwave currently afflicting Europe. The show
\nwas to be headlined by a 155-pound title fight between Wilson
\nVarela<\/a> and Damien
\nLapilus<\/a>. The event was set to be held outdoors at the historic
\nRoman Theatre of Orange, but with conditions like these, it
\nwouldn’t have been safe for the spectators or the athletes.<\/p>\n
\nTheatre of Orange because we’d already used the location four
\ntimes. Last year, we were under an orange heatwave alert, and we
\nwere forced to buy water bottles for every spectator. We learned
\nthat three hours before the show. If we didn’t have the famous
\n3,000 or 4,000 bottles, we couldn’t let people in. We can’t produce
\nan event, tell the fighters to prepare, work for months and months
\nof preparation, only to be told on the day itself that it’s too hot
\nand we can’t do the show. We were supposed to produce only a
\ntelevised show in September, so instead of one, we’re producing
\ntwo, to rebalance the number of shows we have to put on. The
\nheatwave in France today forced us to make adjustments. As we
\nspeak, it’s funny you ask, because I was looking at the weather
\nforecast. On the day we were supposed to do the show, 38 degrees
\n(100\u00b0F) is already forecast, knowing that the federation requires
\nthe maximum temperature inside the cage to be below 30 degrees
\n(86\u00b0F).\u201d<\/p>\n
\nrescheduled, but the promoter intends to make the Varela-Lapilus
\nclash happen. At the same time, Pourrut is already looking for the
\nnext face of French MMA. The movement has produced plenty of
\ntalent, and more are in the pipeline, especially those already
\ncompeting in the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation.<\/p>\n
\nrecruited the likes of Oualy
\nTandia<\/a>, Paul
\nDenis Navero<\/a> a.k.a. Paul Dena, Samba Sima<\/a>,
\nMathilde
\nAschenbrenner<\/a>, or Oceane
\nSamson<\/a>. It’s in our DNA to have a league that can create the
\nfuture stars of MMA in France, who might be stars a few years from
\nnow in the UFC; I hope for them. So yes, of course, we work hard on
\nrecruitment, on scouting. We’re going to announce, before long,
\nquite a few nice signings of young French fighters who notably
\nperformed at the IMMAF.”<\/p>\n
\n
\nThe English-speaking public can catch Hexagone events on Dazn.
\nPourrut ended by stating his hope to ensure MMA continues to grow
\nin France and is viewed as a legitimate sport.<\/p>\n
\nsport. We’re not a business as such, in fact. When we present
\nfights, we present the discipline. I’m a lover of the discipline.
\nAnd what I want to say is that, beyond the number of leagues being
\ncreated here and there, the idea is to be the finest ambassador of
\nour sport. In just six years, we’ve produced 45 events. Hexagone
\nMMA is one of the finest current success stories, for me, in
\nEuropean MMA. Just look at the number of shows: we’ve produced more
\nthan 10 this year already. We’re in territory few leagues can
\nclaim, being able to say we’ve done more than 10 events in a single
\nyear. So we’re driven by this will to build ourselves up little by
\nlittle. As you said, you came for the second event, and you’ve seen
\nthe whole path we’ve traveled, all the growth we’ve had. We wanted
\nto build our success in France step by step. And in the long run,
\nwe’re going to build a real European success.\u201d<\/p>\n
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