While the sport was well established in North America, Japan and Brazil and beginning to flourish in various other places, it was still banned in France, making it difficult for Charriere and others to see a means of translating their passion for fighting into a full-blown career.
Cage Warriors was thriving and serving as a pipeline for talent from the United Kingdom and Europe to make their way to the biggest stages in the sport. Charriere saw this and set his sights on breaking through in Britian, eventually joining Paul Hughes and Jordan Vucenic as an ultra-talented triumvirate that traded the title amongst themselves at the top of the featherweight division for a couple of years.
ICYMI: Max Holloway Defends His BMF Title Against Charles Oliveira At UFC 326
“First, I was just fighting to fight,” Charriere said. “One day, I see the light, I see ‘Maybe there is a pathway I could make it to England, Great Britain’ and I started looking around. My weight cut was not really good because of the things in France, and we were not taking it professionally. One day I was like, ‘I think that is what I wanna do and I will just do my best.’
“I can have 10 years of me just pushing this dream, and with 10 years, I can win all the fights, make my record good, have great finishes, and get to the big stage. It was just visualization, believing in me and trusting the process. ‘If I work every day as hard as I can, there is no way I don’t reach it,’ and I made it, so I’m pretty proud of myself for sticking to the plan.”
