Former UFC interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane plans on making his return to the Octagon at UFC Paris in September.
Gane hasn’t fought since last September at UFC Paris when he scored a TKO win over Serghei Spivac. Since then, he has yet to be booked and both Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes have taken shots at him saying he is turning down fights.
However, Ciryl Gane says the layoff has been disappointing as he’s looking to return at UFC Paris in September.
“I don’t want to wait because my last fight was already last September… You have Jon Jones, and now you have Tom Aspinall who has the interim belt, who are in front of me. And they’re looking for each other a little, the other is looking for the other. So basically, it doesn’t really tell the time and it doesn’t really give me the time either. So in fact, it’s not easy,” Gane said on the French version of Hot Ones (via Championship Rounds on X).
It is an interesting comment from Gane who wants to fight at UFC Paris which has typically been the first Saturday of September, so it is only three months from now. Who he will fight in his return is uncertain, but Gane plans to make his return in September at UFC Paris.
Ciryl Gane reportedly turned down UFC 304 interim title fight
Although Ciryl Gane says he wants to fight at UFC Paris, interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall claimed that the Frenchman turned down the interim title fight at UFC 304 in England.
“The UFC wanted me to fight Ciryl Gane, I said, ‘Okay, the UFC wanna do it, we can do it.’ I’m not bothered, I feel like I’m the champion of the world, I’m ranked No. 1 in the world, I’ll fight anybody you don’t have to talk me into anything. The UFC are my bosses, they want me to fight Ciryl Gane, count me in, that’s okay, we’ll do it,” Aspinall said on his YouTube channel.
“Ciryl, on the other hand, he’s out there doing a film, Ciryl is trying to be the French Arnold Schwarzenegger right now, and fair play to him. If he wants to do films and be an actor, go and enjoy yourself, Ciryl go and do your thing, make some money, do whatever you doing. But, he didn’t take the fight, he wanted to do his film, so Curtis Blaydes, they’ve thrown him in, very happy with it,” Aspinall continued.
With Gane turning down the UFC 304 interim heavyweight title fight, it’s uncertain who the Frenchman will fight in his return.
Ciryl Gane is 12-2 as a pro and is 9-2 in the UFC. Both off his losses came for the undisputed heavyweight title as he dropped a decision to Francis Ngannou and was submitted by Jon Jones. He does hold notable wins over Tai Tuivasa, Derrick Lewis, Alexander Volkov, Junior dos Santos, and Jairzinho Rozenstruik among others.