PARIS – A perfect fighter his entire career, Ciryl Gane was forced to grow from his loss to Francis Ngannou.
Gane (10-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) won Rounds 1 and 2 on two judges’ scorecards in his title fight against heavyweight champion Ngannou (17-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) at UFC 270, but Ngannou unexpectedly used his wrestling to rally and beat Gane by decision.
The loss marked was Gane’s first, but it was a valuable lesson that he plans on learning from.
“Maturity,” Gane told reporters at Thursday’s UFC Fight Night 209 media day. “I won every fight I did, and I was really flawless, not because it was easy, but you’re flawless. The loss puts some questions in your head and you must have some answers. So this put more maturity in (my) head.”
No one has really been able to hang with Gane on the feet, but the Frenchman is aware losing to Ngannou in that fashion has many wondering if the champion exposed a chink in his armor.
As he enters Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 209 headliner against Tai Tuivasa (15-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) at Accor Arena in Paris, Gane is expecting his opponents may try and grapple him moving forward. But he said he’ll be ready.
“The fight against Francis may have given some ideas to other fighters,” Gane said. “But if we were to re-examine the fight against Francis, and I was asked what I errors I may have made, I would say that I didn’t apply my footwork the way I usually do.
“That’s the reason he managed to surprise me on two or three occasions during the fight. So no, I don’t have this fear, but I’m saying that it may have given some ideas to certain people. But now my footwork will be better than it ever was.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 209.
