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Daniel Sam
Daniel Sam v Patrice Quarteron - Image: www.mouv.fr

Daniel Sam defeated bitter French rival, Patrice Quarteron last night at the Halle Georges Carpentier, Paris in a much anticipated fight that had captivated great interest in France, for all the venomous trash talk and controversy leading up-to last night’s Thai boxing clash. Speaking moments after the fight to MMA Plus, Sam reflected on his impressive victory:

“The fight was hard as expected, I was confident of the win although I could of worked harder. Not sure what the decision was (unanimous, majority or split) as they called it in French but my hand was raised.”

The level of escalating beef between both men was incredible leading up to this England vs France battle, with Quarteron even threatening to break Daniel Sam’s neck come fight night; provoking the GLORY heavyweight into issuing a very harsh but justifiable response.

In the weeks leading up-to their eventual fight, the Frenchman even visited one of Sam’s gyms in England where he coaches and trains, dressed as a killer clown and armed with a chainsaw. Quarteron was relentless in his approach to the mental warfare elements pre-fight but his attempts to unsettle “The Warrior” only spurred on the British heavyweight.

“Everything up until the press conference I took from him as fight hype and PR to build the fight but also to get to me. Which all it did is motivate to train very very hard for this clown. The event of him coming to my gym was a step too far because of the nature of the gym (a youth project) and the fact we have young people 7-25yr olds (some vulnerable).”

“This once again did nothing but motivate me further to train harder. I saw it as comical that he would go to such great lengths to try and unsettle me. This I know he did out of fear. From the press conference I saw fear in his eyes when our eyes met and he realised what he’s facing. He loses confidence everytime he sees me; and when we are face to face his whole aura shrinks.”

Even after the weigh-ins on Wednesday night, “The Dark Ronin” was not letting up with his controversial antics and visited Daniel Sam’s hotel whilst the Brit had gone out for dinner. Hotel staff alerted Sam at the time of Quarteron’s surprising and instigative visit which, didn’t bother the GLORY heavyweight in the slightest. If anything, Sam was calmly confident and had predicted he would defeat his nemesis of a French Thai boxing ‘clown’; and hadn’t been too bothered by Quarteron’s impressive fight stat of, winning 82.5% of his past victories by KO.

“When I look at some of his previous opponents; If he fought me everyone of his fights, his KO record would zero.”

Due to his volatile behaviour both in the past and at present, Quarteron is a devise public figure in France and Sam was pleasantly surprised by the warmth and support he has received from so many in France. Even during and after the fight, the French spectators would boo and heckle their fellow Parisian but cheer loudly for the Brit.

“It’s been very surprising the amount of support I’ve received in the last few weeks from around the world but majority from France. I had no idea this clown was so widely disliked. For the last 2 weeks I have been receiving at least 5 messages everyday from French people wishing me good luck and expressing their dislike for the clown. Big shout out to everyone for their support. #killaclown.”

The fight was televised on French TV channels France 0 and France 2 and the 5,000 arena capacity venue was sold out too. It will be interesting to see what 2017 has in store for the GLORY heavyweight contender and Enfusion Live veteran. Especially when taking into account that Quarteron is regarded as one of the world’s top heavyweights (both K1 and Thai rules); his high KO ratio; a multiple world champion; and that the Frenchman had been undefeated in his last 12 fights since 2009, until Daniel Sam’s triumph over him.