Cyril Gane was winning the first two rounds of his championship fight against Fracis Ngannou at UFC 270. Yet Ngannou managed to turn the whole fight around in the 3rd round – and from then on dominated Gane with his wrestling.
During the entire course of his professional boxing career Ngannou had 1 total takedown – yet in this fight he managed to score multiple and use them to win.
Who would expect the renowned KO machine Francis Ngannou would outwrestle the regarded “complete fighter” Ciryl Gane into a unanimous decision victory at UFC 270? Not us and not even Gane’s team.
UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou surprised the world last weekend. He outwrestled probably the most complete fighter in the heavyweight division in Gane, not to mention he did all of that with a debilitating knee injury.
But to everyone’s surprise, Ngannou slammed Gane and took him to the ground multiple times securing controls and also, points in the judge’s eyes.
Fernand Lopez caressing Gane’s lower back while staring at Francis is hilarious ?pic.twitter.com/WjSWW9TNwE
— Senegal Cartel?? (@cartelofvibes) January 23, 2022
Reacting to his fighter’s first professional loss, head coach of Ciryl Gane, Fernand Lopez explained in an interview some of his plans for Gane’s future wrestling training including flying some big wrestlers from Dagestan and Chechnya.
“I already made two phone calls in Dagestan and in Chechnya, two heavyweights are on their way. They have long arms as those of Francis and Jon Jones.” Lopez said.
He also ensures Gane going to have a much heavier wrestling menu on his training camp until he “can sit anymore” and is “sick of it.”
“We’ll just do that, we’ll breathe wrestling, we’ll drink wrestling, we’re going to wrestle so much you won’t be able to sit anymore. You’ll be sick of it, for three months you won’t breathe,” he added.
https://youtu.be/l7hGLQWM5Ec
Seems like harsh words, but probably exactly what Gane needs as he is just entering his 4th year in MMA after transitioning from Muay Thai.
Gane himself has reacted well to his first loss, congratulating Ngannou and insisting that he still had a bright future ahead of him in MMA.
“Thank you very much for all the people who were behind me, thank you very much, I’m so sorry for today.”
“Congratulations for Francis, he did very well, I’m disappointed, a little bit sad but it is a good experience.”
“It was really good experience and I think I’m just arriving in this game. The future is in front of me.” said Gane on the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.