Almost a decade on from when he first left France, Kevin Jousset will return home to fight for the first time, buoyed by the knowledge his "sacrifices" are paying off.
Bordeaux-raised Jousset will fight American Bryan Battle at UFC Fight Night Paris on Sept. 28, the bout to be the now New-Zealand based welterweight's first since December last year.
Speaking to ESPN from his Auckland apartment, wedged between the French and New Zealand flags, Jousset understands the significance of the bout and sees it as a reward for not only the decision to chase his dreams abroad, but also the hard work that he has put in since.
"For sure [it's special], and there a lot of expectations," he said after the fight was finally made official. "My friends and family have been waiting to see me fight for a long time, so it should be good to fight at home.
"For me it's going to be the first time ever fighting in France, so there are obviously going to be a lot of expectation from the French fans. So, yeah I am looking forward to fighting in front of the French people and hopefully we have a big win and a big performance, so that they can see what I'm worth and they will want to see me fight at home many more times."
Jousset began his combat sport journey in judo as a kid before injury set him on a different path, one that brought the Frenchman to Melbourne where he got his first taste of MMA. Having risen through the ranks on the local scene, he then hopped across the Tasman Sea to join City Kickboxing [CKB] - and hasn't looked back.
"Just the quality of the training and the training partners," Jousset said of his move to CKB. "I came here the first time for a training camp, it went pretty good and I got much better in a short amount of time, and then I realized this was the place for me to live if I wanted to become the best fighter possible.
"I'm at the gym every morning, I'm at the gym every evening and whatever happens in fights just come back the next day and do it again, year after year. And then I got better, there's no secret, it's just hard work."
Jousset recorded back-to-back wins to open his UFC account in 2023, winning first at UFC 284 via a first-round submission of Kiefer Crosbie in September, a victory that allowed him to back up just three months later and defeat Kenan Song via unanimous decision.
But Jousset knows American Battle, who has won six of his eight fights in the UFC and has had a further no contest, represents a step up in class from his first two opponents.
"It's a bit of a jump [in quality], but that's why I'm doing the sport. I'm doing the sport to fight the best guys possible," Jousset said. "I've never fought any guys who I think are not good, even before the UFC I fought some very high-level guys in Australia and New Zealand.
"But yeah, he is better than some of the other guys I've fought and that's why I'm looking forward to it, that's why I am training every day, and it just gets me even more excited than if I was fighting someone who wasn't as good.
"He has a lot of strengths but he has a lot of weaknesses as well. I can't get into too much detail, but in striking and wrestling he has both strengths and weaknesses. But it's my coaches' job and my job to try to figure out what is the best way possible to beat him, and I'm pretty convinced that we know how to beat him and that we are going to do it."
While life in New Zealand is very much confined to the CKB gym -- he lives by the eat, train, sleep, repeat mindset -- Jousset says he is proud to represent both France and the country that is helping him chase his dream.
That dream is to become the best MMA fighter possible, one who might someday return to France to headline an event in the country of his birth, but also adds to the CKB legacy that has already unleashed Israel Adesanya , Kai Kara-France and Dan Hooker on the UFC.
"The sky's the limit, right? I don't limit myself to anything, I think I can do great things in this sport," he told ESPN.
"Longer-term goal, it's definitely to go to the top of the sport, to try and become as good as I can and hopefully I can become a champ of the sport. That's why I train every day, you don't train to lose fights; I train to win all of my fights and if I keep winning all my fights I'll end up at the top of the division.
"So that's the goal, that's why I am working hard every day, and that's why I sacrifice a lot of things in my life to make sure reach that I reach my goals."
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