Ciryl Gane’s Takeaway on Loss to Francis Ngannou: “My footwork will be better than it ever was.”

The former interim Heavyweight champion had this to say about his loss to the current king of the Heavyweights.

“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.”

The loss marked was Gane’s first, but it was a valuable lesson that he plans on learning from. No one was really able to hang with Gane on the feet, but the Frenchman is aware losing to Ngannou has many fans wondering if the champion exposed a Gane and his armor.

“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.”

Gane enters Saturday’s UFC Paris headliner against Tai Tuivasa (15-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) at Accor Arena in Paris, Gane expects his opponents may try and grapple him moving forward. But he said he’ll be ready.

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