French 2009 World Champion Morgane Ribout lives in Canada

In 2009 Morgane Ribout became World Champion and she won a European bronze medal. She won medals at Grand Slams in Paris and Tokyo but it never came further and she lost quickly at the 2011 World Championships in Paris and retired in 2013 when she was just 26 years. Then she started her new life and found another love in MMA and lives in Canada.

Morgane Ribout is a native out of France with a 4-0 record with a 100% finish rate. She’s looking to improve her record to 5-0 in her debut for top Canadian promotion, TKO (45) airing live exclusively on UFC Fight Pass this Friday. She is set to take on Corinne Laframboise (2-2).

You have a background in Judo. Can you talk about how you got into the sport, the journey, and your accomplishments?

“Having parents who practiced swimming, I practiced the same sport before even walking. At the age of 4, I started judo to do as did my big brother. After practicing various sports such as gymnastics, dancing, horse riding, and even ping-pong at school judo remained my favorite field. So I left the family home at the age of 10 to join a judo school sport/study, until 17 years old to join the French judo team in Paris (INSEP). The schedules of the week was simple, two training sessions a day, five days a week, adding many trainings camps and competitions abroad. I was a 21-year-old world champion, I then stopped my judo career at 26-years-old.”

Can you speak on why you made the decision to transition over to MMA?

“The MMA has always attracted me from afar. I was able to observe many changes of the rules in judo, changes that I didn’t want and therefore, I didn’t the ability to adapt myself to them. The MMA represented for me the possibility to expand my knowledge while continuing to use my skills. My impressions were quickly confirmed during my firsts MMA training sessions.”

What do you do for work or would MMA be your full-time job?

“I work the weekends in a restaurant, and I love that. But the MMA career requires more so I devote my week to my trainings.”

Who are you currently training with and who are some of your main sparring partners?

“I have the chance to live here in Montreal for almost 3 months.

What do you like to do outside of fighting?

“I am a rather casual person .. I like watching series, seeing my friends, and especially I love to make myself happy by discovering new restaurants .. outside of course periods of cuttings haha.”

Why do you fight and who do you fight for?

“I fight to be the best fighter in the world. With of course a lot of work to do and I am aware of it. You have my answer..”

Going into 2019 what are your goals?

“UFC.”