[MMA] Ciryl Gane: "I took a step forward in the UFC"
Ciryl Gane (right) © Zuffa LLC
Text by: David Kalfa Follow
5 mins
Ciryl Gane is now in 7th place in the ranking of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the benchmark in mixed martial arts (MMA).
The Frenchman changed dimension by beating the former world heavyweight champion, Junior Dos Santos.
However, he prefers to put his situation in the UFC into perspective.
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RFI: Ciryl Gane, following your victory on December 12 against Brazilian Junior Dos Santos, you are now in 7th place in the heavyweight ranking of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). What does this mean to you
?
Ciryl Gane
: It's funny, but it doesn't do much to me… As an athlete, for my career, it's necessarily something good.
[…] When we reach the top 10, it's true that we are in a small pocket square.
We are surrounded by fighters of very, very high level.
When we are there, it means that we are one of the strong men on the planet.
When you join the top 10 of a league as prestigious and influential as the UFC, do you change dimension
?
At the moment, I don't feel like I have changed dimension (laughs).
It's complicated to answer… I don't feel this change yet.
Or maybe it's me who doesn't want to change dimension.
► To read also: Ciryl Gane, new French phenomenon of MMA
But do you find that the looks towards you have changed, following your victory against a former world champion
?
Yes.
There is a bit of the “
ok, there he passed a real test by beating a former champion
”.
My former opponents did not necessarily have big names.
They were very good and talented but they don't have a long career behind them like Junior Dos Santos.
We will therefore say that I have taken a step.
Your victory against Junior Dos Santos seemed almost easy. How did you experience this fight
?
The strategy put in place worked very well.
We
started
with the idea of using a lot of muay-thai techniques, which is normal given my background
[Ciryl Gane was a Thai boxing champion before taking up MMA, Editor's note]
.
You had to not be within striking distance.
Juniors Dos Santos is a very good striker.
However, when we manage to keep a distance, the adversary does not manage to try things.
In the end, it's only me who boxing and it may seem easy.
But it's just that the tactics were well defined.
In recent months, you had to face opponents less known than Junior Dos Santos. How do you interpret the UFC's choice to organize this fight against a much more posh fighter
?
The UFC wanted to test me first against opponents who were entering the top 15, like me.
[…] Finally, it was complicated to organize since there were several cancellations of fights in a row.
The leaders therefore decided to take me directly to a higher level.
But they had to negotiate for it.
Because the higher-ranked fighters than me had no interest in facing a guy who's only done three fights in the UFC, has a very small career, but still annoys.
So they made sure to make arrangements with Junior Dos Santos.
And the year 2020 therefore ends well. Yet you've seen your fights called off five times in a row over the past few months, each time for different reasons. How did you manage to keep your spirits up
?
It is true that it was annoying, if only at the financial level.
But I have the chance to play a sport in which you are well paid.
Besides, my family and I are not spendthrift.
So we had to stay optimistic, tell ourselves that things would work out, wait and train.
That's all there was to do.
In a situation like this, if you start to complain, you may have a bad time.
Which doesn't help.
Has the UFC already planned your next fight
?
Not at all !
We are a little in the dark this time for once.
There are already plenty of fights already booked in the UFC.
So we do not really know what is planned.
We are patient.
But I don't have much to think about.
There aren't many opponents left in front of me in the standings.
If you keep up the momentum, fighting for the title of world heavyweight champion from 2021, does that seem possible to you
?
If I manage to play three fights in the next eight months, why not?
At the end of December, that would be possible.
In fact, it will depend on the frequency of my fights.
But to have the right, it will be necessary to win at least two or three more fights.
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