If you’re interested in the world of MMA prospects, chances are you’ve come across the name of Tom Duquesnoy. The 23-year-old current BAMMA MMA 145 & 135 champion has been cutting a tear on the European MMA circuit going back to 2012, putting together a 14-1 (1 NC) record in the process.
“The Fire Kid” has only been to decision 3 times in his career so far, the most recent being a split against former UFC lightweight (and current top UK talent) Brendan Loughnane. Now riding a 10-fight win-streak, stretching back to a 2013 submission loss to Makwan Amirkhani, it looks like Duquesnoy is finally making the jump to the big stage.
This isn’t the first time the UFC has come calling for the young Frenchman’s talents either. Duquesnoy has been in contact with the UFC since 2014, but has passed on opportunities to step up to the promotion until he was sure he was ready. French website l’Avenir de l’Artois is reporting that time is at hand. Severe MMA has confirmed initial reports that Duquesnoy will be signing a UFC contract in the coming days, with a target debut date of April 15th.
For those less familiar, Duquesnoy is a 23-year-old fighter from Lens, France. He started his career training with Kajyn MMA, but has spent time at various high level gyms. Increasingly he’s been training out of Jackson-Wink and their large stable of top-tier MMA talent. Duquesnoy has a background in Combat Sambo, winning 5 French National titles. He’s since trained heavily in boxing and Muay Thai and spent time wrestling with the French national team in order to complete his MMA game.
All of this means that Duquesnoy has an exceptionally well rounded and aggressive style. He strikes well, with powerful kicks at range and a very confident pocket boxing game. He has a great habit of mixing knees and elbows into his combinations and filling all the space of his fights with offense. And that striking attack is backed up by an aggressive wrestling game. Duquesnoy works takedowns with a variety of styles not only hitting trips and sweeps, but driving well into double legs and chaining his attempts.
If there’s any criticism of Duquesnoy at this point, it’s all down to size. Standing at just 5’ 7” Duquesnoy was a small featherweight and he’s still not a very big bantamweight. Coupled with his relentless aggression and willingness to fight anywhere at any time, it can lead him into peril. However, other than a well timed headlock series for a submission from Amirkhani, it’s never been a problem that Duquesnoy has really paid for.
If you want to get better acquainted with the next big talent to hit the UFC, check out his most recent fight against Alan Philpott below:
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