Nice’s Axel Sola, the new star of French MMA?

The music lover and pianist that he is in his spare time (he entered the octagon to Mozart's Requiem ) could only bring virtuosity to this fight which marked, on Saturday evening in Paris, his very first appearance in the UFC (the most prestigious organization in the world).

Facing Irishman Rhys McKee in the welterweight (under 77kg) division, Axel Sola (27) didn't just recite his scales. He gave the white-hot Accor Arena crowd a real recital.

Firstly, by respecting, note by note, the score that he himself had written (the famous " game plan "), with undermining work based, among other things, on his striking.

Before performing an even more rhythmic passage, in stringendo, on the keyboard of his destiny. Which his fists translated into a powerful uppercut to the stomach, which made his opponent bend, and gave him the opportunity to finish on the ground, on a sequence of " ground and pound ".

To win by referee's stoppage (TKO), in the 3rd round of this fight suspended outside of time, for many observers, in any case forever anchored in memories.

A masterful concerto, technically, even if the main person concerned said he was quite surprised by the "resilience" of the Celtic warrior.

" He took the blows pretty well. I hit him really hard, several times, but he didn't flinch and kept moving forward. But I finally found the solution..."

A somewhat unclear immediate future

What's next? While he has signed for four fights with the American organization, it obviously won't be an immediate possibility.

Sola, who was already feeling pain in his left hand before entering the cage, must first undergo an MRI to determine whether or not his 90-day layoff will be extended.

" I hurt myself badly a week before the fight. I don't know exactly what I have, but I re-hit it and, in the third round, I couldn't use it at all. Luckily, the stomach is less hard than the skull (smile)..."

Even more legitimacy...

Although he may have to wait longer than expected to return to the cage, the protégé of Aldric Cassata, at the Boxing Squad in Nice, has nevertheless definitively acquired, in the eyes of all, real legitimacy to fight under the UFC banner.

This success, in a weight category higher than his own (he usually competes in the under 70kg category), also allows him to maintain an immaculate record (with now 11 wins, no defeats, and 1 draw since he crossed the Rubicon).

To be able to continue to nourish one's wildest dreams, and to touch the limits of the exceptional...