Tom Duquesnoy took the MMA world by surprise when he announced his decision to retire.

The 26-year-old French prospect announced in May that he was embarking on a new path and was no longer able to fully commit to high-level training.

It’s been a year-and-a-half since his last fight, and Duquesnoy (16-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) says he is now on a spiritual journey, and he is passing down his knowledge through seminars all across Europe.

The former two-division BAMMA champion made his long anticipated UFC debut in 2017, knocking out Patrick Williams in the second round. Six months later, he suffered his first setback in more than four years, when he was edged out by Cody Stamann. Duquesnoy then bounced back with a unanimous decision win over Terrion Ware in March 2018, his last appearance in the octagon.

Duquesnoy was then scheduled to face fellow European prospect Nathanial Wood in December 2018 before a rib injury forced him to pull out just a month before the fight.

That was the major turning point for Duquesnoy, he said, and the moment he discovered that he no longer needed to fight.

“As we go, we learn more and more about ourself, and then I broke my rib, just before a fight which never ended up happening, and it pushed me instead of being depressed, going deep into meditation,” Duquesnoy told MMA Junkie. “So what I’ve been doing for the past year-and-a-half, even while I was still a UFC fighter, I was basically doing six-to-eight hours meditation a day and working deep in philosophy and more precisely on the spiritual path, and while I was doing a lot of Shamanism, I mix kind of Shamanism, spirituality, philosophy – and when I recovered, as I do that deep process within me, I just discovered like, ‘Hey, you know what? I don’t need to fight because I’m in peace right now.’

“When I broke my rib, then I started going deep into meditation, That’s when I started feeling that for me, ‘OK, the sensation, do I need to fight again?'”

Prior to his scheduled fight with Wood, Duquesnoy made the brief move to California and was seen training at Team Alpha Male. But since retiring, he made the move back to his home country of France, where he’s been teaching seminars. He has also recently released a book in French, “Preparez Vos Combats,” which translates to “Prepare for your Fights,” where Duquesnoy shares MMA techniques, tips for fight preparation and recovery techniques, all from his personal experience.

And with so much going on outside of fighting, Duquesnoy says he has no regrets walking away from the sport.

“There is not even an aspect of comparison,” Duquesnoy said. “I could have said, ‘You know what? Now I feel 10,000 times better than before.’ It’s not even comparable. It’s the pure sensation of freedom. Like, MMA gave me the opportunity to liberate myself from MMA, so MMA is my first love. It’s still within me. I share the knowledge all over France about MMA because I love it. It’s within me. That’s for life. That’s forever, but life is multi-dimensional.”

With the recent announcement that MMA will finally be legalized in France beginning in 2020, Duquesnoy – who’s been one of the standout fighters from France, as well as an advocate for legalizing the sport in his country – is happy to see where the sport is heading.

“Very happy in order that now they’re going to be able to federate, to create a balance, to create structures, because it’s an amazing sport,” Duquesnoy said. “It’s a wonderful sport that needs structure, that needs to be professional, and it’s an amazing thing for all the fighters because I never fought in France and yes, it would be amazing for fighters to fight in their own country, which also opens a big way for the sponsors.”

And would that lure him into potentially making a comeback? Duquesnoy is not sure, but all he knows is that it won’t be any time in the near future.

“I don’t know,” Duquesnoy said. “What I know is it’s been one year and a half I haven’t fought, and it’s complete happiness.”