the matches will be played in a temple of classical music

Toulouse, capital of MMA. This Friday, May 24, 2024, a championship for fans of this combat sport is being organized for the first time in the pink city. The event is held at the Halle aux Grains, the usual home of the national orchestra of the Capitol.

Legalized in 2019, MMA, a mix of martial arts, continues to attract more and more fighters. And the Toulouse club, TFT, would be the one with the most licensees in France. Hence this idea of ​​organizing the first amateur MMA championship, the Rose Championship, this May 24, 2024 at the Halle aux Grains.

“Here, even the grannies like the castagne” sang Claude Nougaro. And today, Toulouse is the capital of MMA. “It’s the DNA of the city“, according to the organizer of this event dedicated to MMA enthusiasts, Paul Macabiau.

MMA is a combat sport combining several martial arts and disciplines such as boxing, jiu-jitsu, wrestling… Almost any blow is allowed.

“We want to have high-level fights with amateurs to help them reach a semi-professional level. Because amateurs often have a job on the side, they don’t necessarily have the time and money to take this step.“, specifies the organizer who is already seeing further.

We want to create the event four times a year in Toulouse and in this room at the Halle aux Grains. We want all MMA fighters in the world to dream of coming to Toulouse to then earn their place at the professional level.

Paul Macabiau, organizer of the first Rose Championship

Romain Falendry has been crowned world boxing champion five times. At 35, he decided to take on a new challenge: an MMA fight. He therefore registered for this first Toulouse championship. “I want to box in front of my family, my friends, my audience. I am very excited“, he told us after a training session.

I want to show that I have worked well, that I did not come one morning with a whim to do MM. I want to show that I worked hard with the TFT and make it a great party.

And the Toulouse man was well supervised. His coach is none other than Antonio Mastropasqua, “the maestro of the savate”. Winner of several titles in Italy and at European level in kickboxing, full-contact and English boxing, he is behind the creation of the Toulouse Multi Boxe club in 1997.

Gone are the music stands and musical instruments of the National Capitol Orchestra which usually occupy the space and stage of the Halle aux Grains. Instead, an octagonal cage to accommodate the twenty participants of this first MMA championship for amateurs.

“La Halle aux Grains is the emblematic hall of Toulouseestimates the organizer of the Rose Championship. A magnificent room which, 70 years ago, was the Toulouse boxing club.“

It’s a little homecoming and it makes us so happy.

Paul Macabiau, organizer of the Rose Championship

A thousand people are expected at the Halle aux Grains, this Friday, May 24, 2024, for the first edition of this MMA championship which should, without doubt, attract others in the future.