Ciryl Gane is entering new territory later today (Sat., Sept. 2, 2023) at UFC Paris live on ESPN+ from inside Accor Arena in Paris, France, as the heavyweight contender fights for the first time in his career after being finished in his previous fight. That’s why “Bon Gamin” is looking to deliver a “masterclass” performance against Serghei Spivac to remind the division that he’s still a top threat.
Gane is coming off a quick submission loss to a returning Jon Jones back at UFC 285 this past March. It was another opportunity for the French fighter to win a UFC title and etch his name in combat history. However, Jones’ wrestling and submission skills were too much for Gane, eventually making him tap to a first-round guillotine choke.
Gane’s performance wasn’t all that great so he’s looking to turn the page today at UFC Paris and deliver a performance worth remembering.
“I just hope this weekend I’m going to do a masterclass, like we say,” Gane told MMA Junkie. “A perfect performance, and I’m going to do my best for that.”
The last time Gane competed in front of his home crowd was back at UFC Paris in 2022. Gane ended up stopping Tai Tuivasa with a sensational third-round knockout, which set him up for his title fight with Jones. That was an incredible moment for Gane — especially considering it was UFC’s debut in France — but can “Bon Gamin” top that performance this weekend?
“Top it? It’s going to be hard,” Gane admitted. “The scenario of the last fight unfortunately was really dangerous, but it was perfect. It was like a movie – a bad thing coming, but you come back stronger and you reverse the situation.
“It was really perfect, and we don’t want that for this fight. I just want to finish the fight before the end, and the fans I think are going to be happy about that.”
Luckily, Gane has worked on the takedown defense that let him down against Jones. Spivak is not the same type of athlete and overall dynamic force that Jones is, but the Moldovan contender is one of the more active takedown artists in the division today and someone who is going to test Gane early and often.
“I think the best option for him is to go on the ground,” Gane said. “And I know this is a big option for him for every fight because he has a good level in it. So yeah, 100 percent in the first second of the first round, he’s going to try. He’s going to go for it, for sure.”
“I did some mistakes in my fight with Jon Jones,” Gane later added. “I’m not (getting) started really early in the game, so that’s why it was not possible to fix this because the fight finished really early. So now, this is my mission to be aware in the first second of the first round.”
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