How Maria Bals, former handball player, became a champion of free-fight

She has lost nothing of her banter. His speech flow did not slow down. At the end of the line, the Brazilian accent of Maria Bals still sings. It's been four years since the Norwegian, of Brazilian origin, left Nantes and her hand club, the NLA (now the
NAHB). The year 2014 coincides with the end of his career as a professional handball player at the age of 33 years. "I started the hand at age 7, so I played 26 years, I had my dose," says one who has experienced the high level in Toulon, Besancon, Angouleme and finally Nantes.

Maria, semi-center but also rough defender hand, was apparently not satiated in duels and shocks of all kinds. At the end of 2014, she moved to Besançon and found a commercial job. Always overflowing with energy, Maria finds herself "by chance" in a club of
MMA (mixed martial arts), a combat sport banned in competition in France. "In Nantes, I was doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu with friends. I wanted to do Besançon, but there was no section … "A club of
MMA bisontin then opens its doors. "The coach immediately liked my mentality, my rigor. The fact that I was not afraid of pain and that I was going forward. "Her long experience of handball, with a strong character, very quickly helps to make Maria an exceptional fighter. It has in it this faculty "to neutralize the other as the hand".

In May 2016, she became champion of France pancrace (the "soft" version of the MMA, since ground hits are prohibited) in Paris in the month category of 61 kg. A competition she has not forgotten. "When I arrived in Paris, I was asked to lose 2.5 kg to fight in the under 61 kg category because there was no one left in less than 63 kg, which was my category at the time. based. Maria had just put on a steak and a beer. In a hurry, Maria had to work hard to find a sauna …

Alone in a cage facing another Maria

The title of champion of France in hand, the former half-center of Nantes launches a new challenge. Very large this one. For her first official MMA fight, she is forced to go into exile. See you on February 18, 2017 at the Octagon Fighting Club in Basel, Switzerland. In front of her, another Maria (Casanova), a Corsica with already six fights in pro MMA to his credit. At stake: the HFC belt. "Of course I was scared, confesses the one who works since February in an event company with the man of his life. I did not know what I was getting into. His memories are intact.

Maria, today, 37 years old, tells them pell-mell. "I have never known so much adrenaline in the hand. When you close the door behind you and find yourself facing each other in a cage, it's something. Vaseline had been put on my head … We were both like caged lions. You can not rely on anyone other than yourself. And here we go for 3X5 minutes of free-fight. Prohibition of "beating the bads and pulling hair". "It was amazing. The knockout of Corsica did not go far. "I almost had it in strangulation! Maria finally wins the points (next video from 1minute 27).

One who trains daily several times a week most often with boys is convinced that "the mentality acquired through hand" has helped to make her an exceptional wrestler. His taste for fighting does not date from today. "I remember watching wrestling with my dad when I was little …" And while many little girls play with Barbie and Ken, Maria, she, married rather the pretty blonde to wrestler Hulk Hogan … An unlikely duo, a bit like the sporting story of Maria.