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Pierre Daguzan will enter Sunday’s Copa Combate one-night tournament as the oldest fighter in the field. However, the Frenchman believes that at 35 he is just entering his fighting prime.
Daguzan (6-5) has had an unusual path into MMA. He comes from a country where the sport is still viewed as violent and taboo. So it is no surprise then that he didn’t start his combat sports career until his late 20s. And that only happened after he moved to China as part of an exchange student program to earn his master’s degree.
After just six months of training, he had his first kickboxing bout. It was only a year into his fight sports journey when he made his professional MMA debut. It’s as if he were making up for lost time in a way. However, with such a rapid jump into cage fighting, he never properly honed his craft to the best of his ability. Yet, his unorthodox path in MMA seems filled with serendipitous moments.
France’s Pierre Daguzan found his true fighting home in Hawaii
An exchange program brought him to China and helped him to discover the combat athlete within. And China was the place where he met his future wife. A woman who is a native of Hawaii, and eventually persuaded him to move back to her home state. That move to Hawaii six years ago, he believes, was also another stroke of luck for his fighting career. Because once he hit the islands and joined Technics MMA — home of UFC featherweight star Max Holloway — he finally found the right place to mold him into the fighter he had the potential to be.
“Since I moved to Hawaii, I think things got more serious because I had a better team. Training [with] Gracie Technics and Technics MMA, and we have Max Holloway, and Max’s head coach. I’m training with Max Holloway every day. I have like one of the best teams in the world,” Daguzan told MixedMartialArts.com. “So it was kind of a blessing for me to move to Hawaii because before I never had structure, I had coaches but it was kind of unprofessional.”
Daguzan’s recent leaps forward as a competitor is why he does not feel any added pressure in the opportunity ahead of him on Dec. 12. When he can win $100,000 in one night by defeating three other men, in Combate Global’s year-end tournament tradition. There isn’t any urgency in him to make good on this rare chance as he enters a time in life where elite athletes are assumed to be on he decline.
The Copa Combate has a well-aged dark horse on Dec. 12
Firstly, because he has done well enough in life where he doesn’t need the prize money badly. But more so because, in the mind of “The French Hawaiian,” he is just entering his prime years after such a late start. And that could be a major problem for quarter-finals opponent Leo Muniz and the other six competitors in the Copa Combate.
“I don’t need fighting to survive. I have a home in Hawaii. I do pretty good. And yea I’m 35, but I started training MMA at 28,” Daguzan said. “I never did any martial arts before. At 28 I went to my first MMA gym in China. Six months later I did my first pro kickboxing fight. One year later I did my first pro MMA fight. It’s not like I’m old in the game.”
“I feel like I’m not at my peak yet. I’m getting in better shape. My stand up and ground is getting better. One of our training partners Tyson Nam made his UFC debut at 36. I’m 35, I’m one year younger. And I do really think MMA is not a very young guy’s sport. Experience really helps. I’m just getting in my prime. I have a few good years left in me.”
The Copa Combate takes place at Univision’s studio in Miami, Fla. The event kicks off at 10 pm ET and will be simulcast in English and Spanish on Paramount+ and Univision, respectively.
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