2023-11-20 04:40:12
Teddy Riner soon in the octagon? It shouldn’t be right away. Regularly courted by the world of MMA, a combat sport in full expansion in recent years, the most successful judoka in history would have been once again approached by the biggest league in the discipline, the UFC.
And with a very, very big check at stake: no less than 15 million euros would have been offered to the Paris Saint-Germain athlete to switch to the other discipline, the person concerned reported to Japanese sports daily Tokyo Sports. An offer rejected by the man who obtained his eleventh world champion title last May, also recently approached by “professional wrestling” and “American football”.
“Punching and kicking people in the face is not my thing”
Many times, the 34-year-old Frenchman has had to respond to MMA’s interest in him, each time systematically brushing aside the approaches of the American league. “MMA came to me. With big bills. It doesn’t interest me, it doesn’t correspond to my values, he assured L’Équipe Magazine eight years ago. I respect these fighters, but taking punches and kicks in the face is not my thing. No more than giving some. I am aware that we have to live with the times and that MMA is fashionable, but it will be without me.”
Currently training in Japan, after skipping the Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi then the European Championships in Montpellier, Teddy Riner is continuing his preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games, one of his last major objectives. In Paris, he could equal the record of three individual Olympic titles held by Japanese legend Tadahiro Nomura, and enter a little further into the history of judo.
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