Ciryl Gane has had one of the fastest rises in the UFC. The French fighter has attracted a lot of fans with his cheerful and carefree behavior yet vicious fighting style inside the Octagon. Although he lost the fight against former training partner Francis Ngannou, he recognizes the magnitude of the Jon Jones fight.
“We expected during the camp a beautiful Jon Jones. Fast like he was at light-heavyweight, with the same skills, but stronger like a heavyweight. Like a real heavyweight. We expected this,” Gane said about his opponent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7qRrBroAao
He further added, “I won the belt now, no matter who is the guy. It’s going to mean a lot for me because he is the GOAT. Everyone knows that, because of his career. … If we win, it’s going to be something big for my career and something big for my life, for sure.”
How significant will it be if Ciryl Gane beats Jon Jones?
Technically Jones is still undefeated in the UFC. The no-contest loss he got handed out was still a dominant performance leading up to the disqualification. His steroid usage taints a lot of his credibility as they could have easily boosted his performance against dangerous opponents who were not caught for PEDs then.
The fight against Reyes was also extremely close, and some fans still think the fight could have gone in Dominick’s favor. So Jon does not bring the Khabib level record inside the Octagon, but his resume is impressive nonetheless. Ciryl was doing quite well against Francis until the Cameroonian pulled out his surprise wrestling.
If Gane manages to beat Bones, big fights like Stipe Miocic and Tom Aspinall should come in the future. Miocic’s heavyweight title defences record could also be broken by ‘Bon Gamin’.
We shall see how Ciryl does in his second shot at the title on March 4th at UFC 285.
