Ciryl Gane: Francis Ngannou Power ‘Not Scaring Me’

Interim UFC heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane has a date with Francis Ngannou.

The two are scheduled to collide at UFC 270 for the unified heavyweight title.

And while Ngannou enters as the odds-on favorite, Gane isn’t concerned about any of it.

Including the power that Ngannou has shown in wins over Stipe Miocic, Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez.

“No, every time, this is not scaring me. You see with Derrick Lewis, he had big knockout power too. Derrick Lewis is a beast too. But it was not a problem,” Gane said during a recent interview with Submission Radio. “When you look at the fight, I stayed inside like that with his punches. It was not a problem. A heavyweight like me, I can punch too like that with a big transfer But no, it’s not a problem for me. This is really not scaring me.

“I’m really confident in myself. When I started in Muay Thai too I was like that, because every fight in my career, in front of me, it was a man more experienced than me. Every time. And that’s why I was really confident that everything is possible, and I did it. So, today I think I have my chance too. He has his qualities, his strengths, I have mine. And we will see in January who can make his gameplan better than his opponent.”

The two have a past, as they were sparring partners at one time.

“I remember the first sparring we did, I was like, okay, this man likes to punch really hard. And he punches for real,” Gane said. “Like, even when it was just sparring, he liked to punch really hard. And I was really happy about that, because for me it was really great for me to comparing myself with Francis. Because when I started MMA, he was already in the top five. So, it was really great for me to compare myself, my level.”