UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou will pull no punches against his former training partner, interim champion Ciryl Gane. The pair are set to clash in a heavyweight title unification bout at the UFC’s first major event of 2022, UFC 270.
Gane’s team leaked supposed training footage of the two sparring from years back, a move that left Ngannou bemused. He addressed the video on his YouTube channel.
Ngannou Promises “Beast Mode” Against Former Training Partner Ciryl Gane
“When I saw that footage, my first reaction was laughing. Because I know exactly what happened at those training sessions. But this is the thing. When they want to like, do some highlight, they always choose the part of the video that they use.
And they have a lot of videos like that because, at the time, they were filming our training session to promote him, his fight, and everything. So, there was a lot of footage from those few training sessions. But a lot of them never came out and would never come out. And I know for a fact that they will never come out.”
He claims it’s all part of MMA Factory’s psychological warfare, and if Ciryl Gane thinks he knows Ngannou he needs to think again. “Whatever they will say out there, Ciryl Gane knows who is Francis.
Just like playing around with him as you play with your little brother, he knows me from that. He hasn’t seen me in my beast mode. So he knows that something is coming and he wants to assure himself that ‘It’s easy, I can take this, I can do that,’ which is good.
We all do. It’s gonna be a fun fight.” The champ was complimentary of his former training partner’s skills, but maintains that he’s better.
“He’s good and he’s just gonna get better. He’s good, he’s talented. That’s for sure and that’s the reason why he’s there where he’s at right now. I’m just better.
I’m just the man that’s gonna stop the hype and I can’t wait to get to this fight because what’s really funny about it is that everybody that talks about this fight hypes him up, all the predictions, they all know exactly what is going to [happen].
But I think they’re trying to play like, ‘Oh, let’s play with his mind. Let’s do this, let’s do that. Maybe we can affect him, maybe, blah blah blah.’ Well, anytime that we’re gonna get in that octagon, you’re gonna feel the energy and you’re gonna feel the difference.”
Which way do you see Ngannou vs Gane going? Let us know in the comments.
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