Six months after a bitter defeat against Jon Jones, Ciryl Gane returns to the octagon of the UFC on Saturday in Paris, where he hopes to revive against the Moldovan Sergey Spivak to open the doors of a fight again for the title. “(My goal is to) send a message and the message is: I’m still here, I want to fight for the belt again,” he said when meeting the boiling public of Bercy.
Gane, down to No. 3 in the heavyweight division, remains on a quick loss to UFC legend Jon Jones in March. In Las Vegas, his dream of becoming the first French UFC champion was gone in just two minutes. “A little nightmare” for the French. And if for his first attempt to climb to the top of the UFC, thirteen months earlier, he had been defeated by not much by the Cameroonian Francis Ngannou, against Jones there was no comparison.
Annoyed behind his eternal smile, Gane had to take the criticism but he claims to have quickly turned the page. “It was something hard but I have this strength to know how to put it into perspective,” explained the Frenchman, remembering the odd jobs he did for a living before embarking on mixed martial arts. “I was like, ‘Calm down. A few years ago where were you? You were selling furniture. In my bank account there were derisory sums. So today makes me smile! Yes I lost, I am a competitor, it hurts, but it built me. Each stage of life builds you and makes you stronger. I remain the same person, I always have the same goal, it is to enjoy what I do, because I love this sport.
To quickly digest this setback and contrary to his habits, Gane got back to work the day after his defeat. His shortcomings in the ground combat having been brought to light, he offered the services of judoka Cyrille Maret, bronze medalist at the Rio Olympics, and multiplied the wrestling and grappling sessions. A year after having electrified Bercy by beating the Australian Tai Tuivasa – “the best memory of my career”, he says -, he therefore finds himself on Saturday facing the challenge Spivak, recognized as an excellent wrestler and who therefore appears as the ideal opponent to show his progress on the ground. And by the way to silence the criticisms born of his defeat against Jones.
“He’s a very good judoka, so he obviously knows the hand-to-hand combat. It is certain that he will want to bring me to the ground, ”he anticipates. “It’s true that he’s a good opponent to try to prove, demonstrate or disprove things, but I’m really focused on myself. I do not have this feeling of having to close mouths, ”he assured. To be able to continue dreaming of the belt, Gane knows however that he will not have the right to make mistakes on Saturday. “Today I would say it’s my most important fight,” he said.
What’s putting the pressure on his shoulders? “I decided to stop with it. I believe that pressure is a choice and I have decided to quit. The stage that I underwent made me stronger, which means that I no longer receive that pressure. Saturday at the edge of the cage, Gane will be observed in particular by another contender for the belt, the Briton Tom Aspinall. His fight will also be scrutinized by the strong men of the category, Jon Jones in the lead, who put his belt back on the line in November against Stipe Miocic. Jones and Miocic could then head into retirement, leaving the heavyweight throne vacant.
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