Ciryl Gane after her victory at UFC Paris: “I did not expect it to be so fire”
On combat and strategy:
“I was facing a guy like me, on a joke, on a joke, I pushed him in a friendly way during the fight to tell him ”I didn’t touch you at the level of the parts”. But we actually got on it! I did not go there with a dead hand. I’m very happy with my performance, I’m especially happy with the script. It was a tough fight that created emotions. It didn’t matter which side they were on, viewers had to love it. He touched me, I come back, even stronger. Everyone is happy with this evening!
It was undermining work. A lot with the jab in particular (he also injured his right hand). It was my best weapon. After he touched me, I went to get the body. A real undermining job. Mechanically, humanly, I had the sensation on my knuckles of the blows he was making… I saw his face open up little by little. It’s not good to take hits like that… He started taking a lot of them. »
On the public and the atmosphere at Bercy:
“Nobody expected that from the French fans. It’s historic! It was a big communion. The script was crazy! It’s cool to have that too. It was hard. I am happy with this victory… and also with the atmosphere. Now, everyone knows that we have this atmosphere in France. At first it was singing ”Ciryl, Ciryl” and then the national anthem. I heard everything. I did not ignore. It did me good!
When Bruce Buffer (the announcer) started to give his speech, everyone was shouting along with him… Wow. My attitude at the end was a comeback for the public. I couldn’t express myself calmly after what he had sent. I must have shouted louder than them! During the Nassourdin (Imavov) fight, people started tapping their feet. We were like, what is it? Is it the metro? I send lots of love to the public. I didn’t expect it to be so hot. »
On Francis Ngannou and a possible rematch:
“He said good luck to me after the weigh-in. The revenge is with great pleasure. We have to go back there. This fight was a step to get back there. I hope there won’t be another. In the first fight, Francis was very good. He has more experience, more maturity. I don’t think he was much superior to me, but if tomorrow I have my revenge, I just have to do better. But really, I take anyone, anytime! »
On expectation and the event
” The main event, it met the pressure. I liked being the underdog at the start of my career. There, we are in Paris, we are at home. Do you imagine that I lose? He touched me ! Can you imagine the catastrophic scenario? I say that I am not a stressed person… But I still felt it in the last hours. But there, bouncing back after a defeat, you ask yourself questions… Imagine I lose… It would have been boring. I conjured the spell and I’m relieved. »
On the right of Tuivasa and the knock down
“When he touches me, I don’t have time to think and I haven’t had any feelings of worry. I reacted, that’s all. Facing a puncher, the base was to touch without being touched. Tai is the biggest puncher I had to face, since Francis hadn’t touched me… Tai is the first to put me on the ass. It made the fight go up in the towers. That’s kind of what we were looking for. Hurt a little more. At the break, Fernand Lopez (coach son) said to me: we were looking for this, now we have it, do it. Go to the mat? It doesn’t traumatize me. He didn’t do anything to me. Not even hurt. Knowing that I can survive such a blow is good, but it shouldn’t be taken too much. I think of the post-career too (laughs). »