“A whole family turns their back on me”: Teddy Riner explains why he refused MMA

15 million euros. A sum capable of making any athlete think, but apparently not Teddy Riner. In an interview with the media Booska-P, the French champion returns to this choice and provides an explanation that goes beyond simple sporting preference: for him, joining MMA would mean breaking with part of its history. While preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the French giant would have received an XXL offer from the UFC, the organization chaired by Dana White, to launch into MMA. A spectacular reconversion which could have propelled him into one of the most publicized organizations in combat sports. However, the judoka preferred to stay on the tatamis.

“It’s a whole family that turns its back on me”

For the man with nine gold medals, judo does not remain just “a small discipline” in which he has accumulated titles. It is an environment in which he grew up, worked and built his career. “Tomorrow, the minute I change my hat and go into MMA, a whole family turns its back on me,” he explains to Booska-P. The Frenchman insists on this loyalty to those who have accompanied him since his beginnings. “I trained hard, I evolved with them, they saw me all over the world. Tomorrow, I can't say to myself: 'I'm turning the page, I'm changing sports and too bad judo',” he continues.

The message is rather clear. Even the exceptional financial offer from the American organization is not enough to make him consider a break with his world. “I refused because it’s not my DNA,” he summarizes, before adding: “I love what I do, I’m happy where I am and it’s not money that will make me change.” With eleven world titles and three individual Olympic crowns, Teddy Riner has proven nothing more.

“It doesn’t correspond to my values”

Beyond loyalty to judo, the champion puts forward another, more personal reason: his vision of combat does not correspond to that which he associates with MMA. “Afterwards, there are my convictions in relation to this sport which mean that it does not sit well with me,” he confides to Mehdi Maizi. This position is not new. As early as 2015, in L’Équipe Magazine, the Frenchman already explained why this discipline did not interest him: “It doesn’t interest me, it doesn’t correspond to my values. I respect these fighters, but taking punches and kicks in the face is not my thing. No more than giving some.”