Ciryl Gane gears up to take down ‘bad boy’ Jon Jones at UFC 285
Ciryl Gane described Saturday’s UFC heavyweight title fight against Jon ‘Bones’ Jones in Las Vegas as the “biggest fight” of his career and insists he will “fight a good fight” against arguably the biggest name in the world of MMA.
The fight for the vacant heavyweight belt brought together two men from very different sides of the cage.
Jones, who is no stranger to controversies outside the ring, has been banned twice for participating in a escape accident and a doping violationsconsidered by many to be the greatest boxer in the history of the sport, having made his mark in the light heavyweight division.
Gane, a real heavyweight with the moves of a middleweight, claims he comes from a quieter end of town.
“We are completely different in character,” the Frenchman told AFP.
“He is a bit of a controversial person and I am a pretty straightforward person. He’s more of a bad boy.
“But we will fight, that is sport. It’s the athletic side that I put above other personal things that I don’t care about.”
Gane also distanced the Americans in terms of their fighting game and experience.
“As he was a multiple-time champion, I hadn’t even started playing contact sports yet,” Gane said.
“When I started Thai boxing at 25, he was a champion for three years, I didn’t even know MMA. I just started Thai boxing and then I switched to MMA in 2018.
“Our stories are really very different. He started very young, I started very late.”
Gane, 32, missed his first championship chance last year when he was beaten by Francis Ngannou.
But he rebounded strongly with a third-round stop against Tai Tuivasa at home to Paris last fall, and has now bitten the golden apple for the second time – the undisputed heavyweight title. argue.
“Definitely the biggest match of my career,” Gane said.
‘No weaknesses’
JBJ pushed his belt away to get closer to Gane #UFC285 pic.twitter.com/8F3ksgiR2v
– UFC (@ufc) March 3, 2023
However, Jones, 35, is a different type of boxer, considered the best boxer in the world for many years.
The American boxer, on the other hand, hasn’t entered the ring in three years and is gaining weight but Gane doesn’t see that as something that will hold him back in Vegas.
“He (Jones) doesn’t really have a weakness,” Gane said.
“He is a versatile guy and more importantly has very good wrestling skills, good cage management, good overall opponent management.
“So he has a very good ‘combat IQ’.
“But I also have a very good ‘combat IQ’. My strong point will be footwork, in the sense that I move more, I move more than he does.
“This is his first experience in the heavyweight class, so maybe that’s to my advantage too.”
It will certainly be a battle of various styles, but one that will see the coronation of a new heavyweight champion of the world.
“In the cage, we don’t go in with weapons, we go in with our fists and feet and that’s what happens,” Gane said.
“We’re going to have a really good fight.”
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