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It's a 2h long video and i've only watched a small part but there's a lot to say. I encourage my french countrymen in Sherdog to add more content if they're motivated enough, and interested in watching the whole thing.
Tom Duquesnoy was a french UFC prospect who competed in BAMMA and had a lot of success there. UFC reached out to sign him when he was 19 but he wanted to get more experience and eventually joined the organization a few years later.
He retired from professional MMA after realizing it didn't excite him anymore, and went in a more spiritual journey.
He's still doing seminars all over France, and he's super friendly. I had the opportunity to talk to him on the phone a few weeks ago
Few cliffs from the video :
- Him and his father were super influenced by Fedor and his style. He did a lot of sambo, wrestling and boxing/kickboxing tournament in his teen years (from 13 to 18).
- He praises american wrestling highly. Says it's way more efficient to translate to MMA. France is way behind in incorporating wrestling in MMA.
- He went to Brazil in Aldo and Barao's gym but he wasn't fan of the teaching. Fighters were brawling every sparring with small gloves and often got open cuts in their faces in the process
- He went to Jacksonwink in Albuquerque and saw the difference : Greg Jackson was honored to have him and he felt like everyone wanted to "grow together" with lots of humility
- Jon Jones training sessions with heavyweight started at 9 am and his training sessions with the LW started at 10 so Jon would wait and watch his training for a week. Jones eventually talked to him and told him he was a source of inspiration. Tom was flattered and he thinks his style (with lots of knees, elbows) was not so common back then
- He says he would have loved being friends with Jones but now feels they wouldn't have had the same lifestyle : Tom is more of a get up early guy. He goes to bed around 9-10 and wakes up extra early to train. He adds Jones is like a "gremlins" and tends to party a lot, drink heavily etc... (which is pretty incredible considering the immense career he had)
- He's a huge fan of Salahdine Parnasse. He encourages all MMA amateur fighters to go and watch his trainings, because his style is subtle : he touches without being touched, he has incredible cardio, he's super dedicated.
- He had troubles with managing his weight in the UFC. He used to fight at 145 but was told he had to go down a weight class to gain more weight inbetween the day before the fight and the fight night. Says UFC's actual policy encourages extreme weightcutting. He wasn't cutting water, he was losing fat 1 month before the fight, so it was progressive. But with experience he regrets it and wishes he had stayed heathy at his natural weightclass
- Says he had lots of health problems regarding weight managment and that's it's not talked about enough in combat sports
Hope you enjoyed it sherbros !
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