Gane transitioned from Muay Thai and kickboxing in 2018, debuted in the UFC a year later, and claimed the interim title just few days after the three-year anniversary of his first professional fight, setting up this clash with Ngannou.
While they’ve been called “former training partners” in the build to this contest, Ngannou said that is true only in the loosest interpretation of the term.
“I trained with Ciryl Gane less than 10 sessions, and this was back in 2019,” began the heavyweight champion. “I was living (in Las Vegas) already. I went to Paris, he was there, getting ready for his fight in TKO in Canada, and I was getting ready for my fight in Phoenix. That’s when I trained with Ciryl Gane.
“He came to The MMA Factory when I wasn’t there anymore; I was here (in Las Vegas) already. I went back at the end of the year, 2018, and he was at the gym already, but he was on vacation or something, so we didn’t even train together until January 2019.”
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Gane’s side has presented a slightly different timeline of events, and there is some acrimony between Ngannou and Lopez that has become the lynchpin on promoting this clash of champions as a grudge match.
One interaction that has gotten a great deal of attention transpired at Madison Square Garden in November, when Lopez and Gane were in the corner of MMA Factory middleweight Nassourdine Imavov, who earned a victory over Edmen Shahbazyan that evening. The trio was backstage following Imavov’s win, waiting to do media, when Ngannou walked by without offering any acknowledgement, promoting social media to frame the interaction as a cold-blooded snub.
“I saw him, he was with Fernand,” Ngannou said when asked about the non-interaction. “Obviously, I don’t have any problem with Gane, and if it was just him, I would greet him, but he was with Fernand, who lately has been trying some nasty stuff with me, and I couldn’t just go there and be like, ‘Hey what’s up?’ like we’re bros, like nothing happened.
