Patrice Evra reportedly spent the last ten years secretly planning his debut in mixed martial arts (MMA), a move that could see French football icons cornering him in the cage.
He retired from professional football in 2019 after a distinguished career, including five Premier League titles with Manchester United and a Champions League.
Since retiring, the former France international has transitioned into football punditry and even participated in reality television.
He appeared in the Netflix series “Inside,” featuring KSI`s YouTube group, The Sidemen.
Perhaps the most surprising step in his post-playing career is signing with the Professional Fighters League (PFL) to make his MMA debut.
Evra`s pursuit of a “brutal switch” in sports has been supported by a decade of consistent kickboxing training.
According to PFL Managing Director James Frewin, “Patrice has been looking at finding the right place to make his MMA debut for a while since he finished his football career. He`s always wanted to take on a different challenge. He`s always been training behind the scenes for the last ten years in combat, with a focus on kickboxing. And, he`s a busy guy. He`s a very successful entrepreneur. So, he and I were introduced in Dubai, about ten weeks ago, he shared his vision and his passion for this project. And it just so happened we had the right platform. We operate in the right way and we had a date in Paris that made sense which is Friday, May 23rd.”
Evra shares a close friendship with kickboxing star and MMA fighter Cedric Doumbe, who is set to assist in training the former left-back.
Intriguingly, Evra is considering enlisting the support of legendary French footballers Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane to be in his corner.
Frewin confirmed this possibility: “Cedric at the same time reached out and offered Patrice all the support he needs from a training perspective. At this stage, we`re hearing that Cedric Doumbe will corner Patrice Evra on May 23rd. And Patrice even suggested there may be a very famous footballers to walk him out to and gave me two names. It`s yet to be confirmed, but Zidane or Henry might be in the corner as well.”
The 43-year-old Evra has not yet announced his opponent for the PFL Paris event, scheduled at the Accor Arena.
However, he has publicly challenged his former Liverpool rival, Luis Suarez (38), who currently plays for Inter Miami, reigniting their infamous Premier League feud.
Suarez has reportedly been offered a cageside seat for the bout, though talks for a potential fight are still in the early stages.
Frewin commented on the potential matchup: “Luis is an elite athlete. He`s still playing football, he`s not training mixed martial arts, so let`s see. Hopefully he`ll be there in Paris on May 23rd, and then we can take it from there.”
