Fernand Lopez and his former student Francis Ngannou have had plenty to say about each other.
Fernand Lopez came up short against former student Francis Ngannou at UFC 270 this weekend. In the main event Ngannou out-wrestled Ciryl Gane, Lopez’s current charge, to unify the UFC heavyweight title.
In the lead-up to this one there was plenty of back and forth between Lopez and Ngannou. Lopez claimed ‘The Predator’ was ungrateful for all his past tutelage. Ngannou said Lopez was jealous of him and hungry for attention.
After the fight with Gane there were no scenes of reconciliation in the cage. However, Lopez said there were some overtures from Ngannou’s team after the bout.
On The MMA Hour Lopez said that UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, who cornered Ngannou for the fight, talked to him about his ongoing feud with the champ.
“I shook [Ngannou’s] hand,” he said (ht sportskeeda). “We spent like five seconds or maybe four seconds looking each other in the eye when we shook hands. But I talked for maybe five minutes with Marquel [Martin], Francis’ manager… when Ciryl was in the medical check. And I talked also with, I hugged very sincerely Eric Nicksick… Also when I shook Kamaru Usman’s hand, he said to me, ‘Fernand, we’re brothers. Let’s stop this. Let’s move on.’”
It feels like Ngannou has already moved on. He’s signalled that he has bigger things to worry about that a former coach and opponent. Lately the Cameroonian has discussed his crusade to change his UFC contract to allow him to face Tyson Fury in a blockbuster boxing bout.