By SudOuest.fr with AFP
Frenchman Ciryl Gane challenges UFC world heavyweight champion, Cameroonian Francis Ngannou. A duel of titans in California, between two fighters trained in Paris, which thrills in France and across the Atlantic
Expected as the fight of the year, a clash of titans from the MMA Factory in Paris opposes Saturday (4 a.m.) in Anaheim (California) the Cameroonian Francis Ngannou, world heavyweight champion UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), to the French Ciryl Gane, challenger with a meteoric rise.
Supremacy at stake
UFC 270. The date has long been marked in red on the calendar of mixed martial arts fans and specialists around the world. “This is one of the most important fights of the year and even without doubt in the history of the UFC”, thus summed up to AFP Lawrence Epstein, general manager of the most important professional league in the world. . “Here we have two incredible athletes who will fight for the title of world heavyweight champion, which will make him the strongest and most resistant man in the world. »
Ciryl Gane became interim champion last year by beating American Derrick Lewis, making him the first Frenchman to win a belt in the prestigious league. But it’s not THE belt, the one that can definitely make him go down in history. “Acting champion doesn’t make me the best. Today it’s Francis and if I want to be that guy, I have to beat him,” said Gane, 31.
training partners
The duel between Ngannou, nicknamed the “Predator”, (1.93 m, 113 kg, 16 wins, 3 losses) and Gane, known as the “Good Kid” (1.93 m, 111 kg, 10 wins), is preceded of a common history linking the two fighters. What “feed a good storytelling to raise the sauce”, by the Frenchman’s own admission.
Because, before really measuring themselves in the cage, the two crossed paths for a few training sessions, three years ago, within the MMA Factory, the factory for champions located in Paris and co-founded by Fernand Lopez, who cornered one and now coaches the second.
Verbal contest
The latter occupies an even more central place since he has been lending himself for several months to a verbal contest full of resentment and animosity with his former foal.
Ngannou, whom Lopez took under his wing in 2013 when he was in dire need, opted to leave France and the MMA Factory behind, moving to Las Vegas in 2017 to reinvigorate his career. For two years, he thus continued to train between France and the United States, before definitively cutting ties with Lopez in 2019. A winning choice since he became world champion last year at the expense of American Stipe Miocic.
On Wednesday, the Cameroonian announced the color for the fight against Gane which he considers “not more important than the others” and which he assures that it “will end in a knockout in the 2nd round”.
The Frenchman, on the contrary, considers this meeting to be “the most important” of his career, while showing a rather disconcerting relaxation. “The fight is highly anticipated. It’s a bit special, strange and funny at the same time. I appreciate knowing that I am arousing so much enthusiasm, but it is also a surprise for me, since I am very new in this world, ”he explained to AFP.
Power versus technique
This fight is a style opposition. On one side, Ciryl Gane, technical and mobile. First practicing Thai boxing between 2014 and 2018 (13 wins, no losses), Gane, from Vendée, has only three and a half years of MMA behind him.
On the other, the overpowering Francis Ngannou. The Cameroonian will see his contract with the UFC come to an end after this fight, with no guarantee of being extended. Because he feels he is not being paid his fair value, which strains his relationship with Dana White, the league boss. He expressed the desire to turn to English boxing, which offers higher fees. Tyson Fury, WBC heavyweight champion, did not wait to challenge him on social networks.
On TV: on RMC Sport 2, at 4 a.m., on the night of Saturday to Sunday
Giant advertisement for French MMA
The Ciryl Gane-Francis Ngannou fight constitutes a formidable sounding board for French MMA, whose ecosystem is slowly beginning to structure itself two years after its legalization.
The last major country to have brought the discipline out of hiding, France is suddenly placed at the center of the MMA planet with this confrontation between two fighters trained at the MMA Factory, a Parisian club founded in 2012. A radical evolution while mixed martial arts there have had a bad reputation for a long time despite a large number of fans.
The tide began to turn from January 2020 and the delegation granted to the French Boxing Federation to organize MMA. Since then, the first licenses have been signed (less than 8,000 in 120 clubs, according to FFBoxe) and parties are held regularly under the aegis of various private promoters, pending the long-awaited arrival of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship).
The Gane-Ngannou duel, Sunday in Anaheim (California), is therefore only the culmination of the process of normalization of this sport in France.