Provincial audiences, raids on the best young people, dates in Europe… How Hexagone MMA is becoming the first French league

Hexagone MMA is a league founded by two brothers from Toulouse with an intuition: there are MMA fans throughout the country. Broadcast on RMC sportthis league tours in intermediate-sized cities, offering cards always featuring young local fighters, who can shine before professional fights.

Its CEO Laurent Pourrut takes stock of a successful year 2024, and outlines the prospects for 2025 where several dates abroad are planned (Netherlands, England and Hungary). Built gradually thanks to the regions, far from Parisian bling-bling, Hexagone becomes a very serious competitor to be the first French organization.

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On the occasion of his event in Évry this Saturday, November 23, 2024, Laurent Pourrut answers all our questions.

What will be the specificities of your event in Évry, in the K-corp e-sports hall?

Laurent Pourrut: There were several reasons for coming to Évry. First of all, Hexagone is a European league based in France and born in Toulouse. This last point is important to understand our approach to “territories”. We believe that people who are passionate about sports are everywhere. When we think of a sporting event, we immediately think of Paris, thanks to the attraction of all the leagues that have already visited there, in particular the UFC. We want to say that the territories have an important place in this sport which is becoming more and more popular.

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Precisely, Île-de-France is not exactly Paris but the Paris region. While looking for something for the outskirts of Paris, we came across the Karmine Corp (an e-sports team, Editor's note) room, which is perfectly new. It's interesting, since in my point of view esports attracts an audience close to that of MMA, that is to say young people aged eighteen to thirty-five.

We always found it regrettable not to have great athletes and superstars coming to the regions

Laurent Pourrut

There is another nod with e-sports. We realized that MMA, if you allow me this expression, is «gamifie». In the sense that we see more and more spectacle, play on the part of the athletes when they enter the cage. There are more and more scenes around the cage; a little take on video games, a little take on wrestling. Let's say that MMA is not a spectacle sport, but a sport with spectacle.

Why did you choose to set up an organization that operates in mid-sized provincial towns?

My brother and I (Hexagone is managed by Laurent and Jérôme Pourrut) are from Toulouse. We always found it regrettable not to have great athletes and superstars coming to the regions. The fact that everything is concentrated in the capital was the starting point for our thinking and our desires. We wanted to bring this sport out of Paris to be able to share our passion. The public systematically responds when we come to the provinces. There are MMA enthusiasts, but also sports enthusiasts who simply want to discover. However, discovering from the room is something different from in front of a screen: an experience full of emotions and apprehensions. I would add that the atmosphere of the crowd is always extraordinary in France, compared to other countries. Whether you like MMA or like it a little less, experiencing it is beautiful emotions.

You've raided the most promising young fighters, how do you manage to attract them?

There are several answers. We have several axes to build our maps. First of all, we must ensure the future by identifying and promoting talented young people. For example, by attracting those who performed at the IMMAF, the amateur world championships in which three of our talents won medals in November. We also have seasoned athletes like Matthieu Letho-Duclos, Michael Aljarouj, and Anas Azizoun. We finally have very experienced fighters who are better known in the media like Grégory Bouchelaghem alias Greg MMA. I think we succeeded in inspiring and transmitting what we truly are, namely a family business. With my brother, we see clearly that it is a «business» hard, requiring a lot of work. But I think we have succeeded in instilling this family side in our teams and our fighters.

Also, we are the most ethical League on French territory. We are not shareholders of any club, we have no capital interest with anyone unlike all the other organizations which are managed by their own interest. You can look at the oppositions, we do not favor anyone. If there is an opposition between a Frenchman and a European, may the best win. It must always be sport that wins. Our oppositions are balanced. We are not going to send someone young to the punchline against someone experienced, to bring the latter up to the UFC. Ethics is at the heart of our system and I think athletes appreciate it immensely.

The goal when we go to a territory is to promote and push local talent. If our organization did not take young fighters who would never be invited to fight in Paris, we would miss out on our vocation.

Laurent Pourrut

Young people who go pro have a career plan, often already written in their head; to prove himself on home soil and then find a way to move up. To do this, you must be able to develop yourself and successfully make the transition from amateur to professional. The walk is difficult to take! For example there is the difference of «weight-cutting». As an amateur we are weighed the day of the fight, as a professional we are weighed the day before. To make this rebound in weight you need to be very well supported: young fighters are particularly well supported with Hexagone.

Why make cards on which amateurs fight alongside professionals?

There are ten or twelve fights per evening. However, the goal when we go to a territory is to promote and develop local talent. If our organization did not take on young fighters who would never be invited to fight in Paris, we would be missing out on our vocation. If we don't give fans from the region we're passing through a chance, no one will.

We can then help them become professional; and if one day we uncover the great talent who will take a world belt, it will be a great source of pride to know that they started, thanks to us, at home. That would be a great story to tell! This is the DNA of Hexagone MMA. To repeat a short phrase, “we are in the video, not in the photo”. On the video we see the entire career of an athlete, not just one event.

Do you believe that a market like France can survive with several large organizations?

I think competition is always important. A market where there are monopolies works less well. We rest on our laurels. I think there is room for two large national organizations, and then regional organizations which will organize one event per year in the intermediate-sized city. These modest organizations are often the work of enthusiasts, who are also gym owners and entrepreneurs. This type of event is also important to keep MMA alive locally.

When an organization has shares in management, there is always a risk. We can ask ourselves the question of sporting balance

Laurent Pourraut about AresMMA

Do you fear competition from the Slam fund, which has just bought AresMMA to form a group?

For the moment I don't think anything of it: I've heard a lot, but I haven't seen anything yet. For example I didn't see any change compared to previous cards. The MMA Factory (Parisian team bought by the Ares MMA group) is still very strong. Now Ares has also bought BTT (Bulgarian top team, a management company led by Guillaume Peltier, the largest portfolio of French fighters): I'm waiting to see how the sport will be treated. When an organization has shares in management, there is always a risk. We can ask ourselves the question of sporting balance.

Do you find that French MMA is well structured, regarding gyms, management, image managers, investors?

Yes ! This is clearly going in the right direction. However, it is difficult to be perfect when you are very young. The Federation is also moving in the right direction. For example, there is a real anti-doping policy in France. This is a key point to protect athletes. I come back to the word ethics; It's important for us that everyone knows that our two athletes will be clean, and that they will fight with true equality of opportunity. It is not found in all other countries. I am thinking of a very large Polish organization which comes to France from time to time (the KSW, Editor's note). When we look at their map in Paris, there are only French people. Where are the Poles? Why don't they want to come and fight in France? I don't understand the interest of French fighters in going to fight there in these conditions. I call for European harmonization on this subject. The integrity of athletes is a priority. There have to be the same rules everywhere.

Where is your partnership with KSW?

There was no partnership per se; we just allowed a few athletes to fight on the first evening of KSW in Paris, in the spirit of being able to help them fight elsewhere. Now we're a little cold when we saw what was happening there. Recently, a KSW fighter suspended for three years in Great Britain for doping was able to fight peacefully in Poland. Where is the sporting logic in that?

We discovered lots of new cities which gave us a very warm welcome with great local crowds.

Laurent Pourrut

What assessment do you draw from the year 2024 of Hexagone MMA, and what are your objectives?

The results are very positive. Hexagone is positioned as the biggest French league, in terms of media and broadcasting. We are broadcast on around fifteen channels in France and internationally, including RMC Sport who has supported us since the first event. I always thank them for trusting us. We did a lot of events this year at high speed, we discovered lots of new cities which gave us a very warm welcome with great local crowds.

There we end the season abroad in the Netherlands. This is the second time we will do a date there. For 2025, the goal is to bring MMA to even more French and European cities. In our calendar, we have dates in Great Britain in Manchester: this will be our big British premiere. There will also be dates in Belgium, and we will announce Hungary soon. It’s a very beautiful country that loves MMA. The evening will take place at the Audi arena in Györ.

We are a European league which is being built step by step while remaining solid on its foundations and without wanting to miss all the stages. We are long-distance runners, marathon runners, not sprinters. We are not here to do crazy things, we are here to build.