After winning world championships in muay thai, it may seem odd to some that Nora Cornolle decided to enter a combat spot where her opponent could take her down. While she loves MMA and has thrived in the sport, it was more due to necessity than anything else.
“Actually, there is so much stuff. The first one was that I had to stop my career for two years approximately because I had health issues and all that,” Cornolle explained. “I gained a lot of weight because of thyroid issues and all that stuff. And there was the COVID at the same time.”
After things opened back up following the pandemic, many sporting events got back to normal. However, muay thai was not one of the things that returned to the way to was before. In fact, Cornolle found it impossible to find fights or make any kind of living in the sport she grew up in.
“When I came back the muay thai environment was quite dying in France. All of the big organizations that I used to fight for didn’t schedule any events,” she said. “It’s not easy to make a living from muay thai – the purses are really tiny.”
After years in just the striking arts, you might expect that the Frenchwoman would have issues with grappling out of the gate. However, two of her first three fights would end with wins on the mat for her. According to her, it’s because the ground arts were quite easy for her.
“I don’t know, it was, I don’t like saying, but natural. I hate saying ‘I’m so good or whatever’, but it was quite natural,” Cornolle explained. “It’s like these girls gave me the opportunity and I jumped on that.”
This Saturday will be no different as she continues to look for the finish. That’s especially true against an opponent in Joselyne Edwards who has won back to back split decisions.
“It’s my job to finish this fight,” she said. “To not go to decision because she’s good with decisions. So it’s my plan to not go to decision.”
Her fight with Edwards takes place on the ESPN+ prelims of UFC Paris this Saturday. That fight card begins at 12:30pm EST.
You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 2:23.
