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Who would have thought possible the encounter between Mixed Martial Arts, a glamorous combat discipline, and trainee teachers, traditionally focused on their demanding studies, at the école normale supérieure in Lyon? However, after removing the illusions of a cultural dissonance in terms of legitimacy, the actual intentions these intellectual sports people put into their practice were identified. These proved to be primarily generic rather than specific to Mixed Martial Arts (development of physical abilities, improved wellbeing, honing of technical skills). Their engagement in this activity is not necessarily contingent; the students are attracted by its technical diversity and inherent variability while simultaneously serving their personal search for maximum efficiency.

This article is based on a study which examines how knowledge is produced in the field of sports performance, looking at the modes of coordination between researchers and the coaches with whom they collaborate. The analysis of empirical data made of interviews and texts leads us to show three scientific regimes, which are at the same time specific modes of coordination between scientists and coaches and particular forms of knowledge production. The paper sheds light on the tensions inherent in each regime and the solutions which the actors adopt in order to co-operate. Finally, we study the constraints scientists face when they go from one regime to another.