Francis Ngannou: ‘It’s Really Hard to Be Impressed’ with Ciryl Gane Win at UFC Paris

Francis Ngannou still owns bragging rights over Ciryl Gane thanks to his victory over the Frenchman at UFC 270 in January.

With that in mind, the reigning heavyweight champion isn’t going over the top with his praise of Gane following his third-round knockout victory over Tai Tuivasa in the UFC Fight Night 209 headliner in Paris on Saturday. “Bon Gamin” has been victorious in eight of nine promotional appearances, with his lone defeat coming via unanimous decision against Ngannou.

“I know he’s a great fighter,” Ngannou said on the ESPN+ post-fight show. “It’s hard to respond to that question for the guy that I beat – if I’m impressed with him. He’s here for a reason. I fought him for a reason because he was probably the No. 1 contender. Yes, he’s good, but I’m the champ. Yeah, so it’s really hard to be impressed.”

Gane had to survive some adversity to emerge victorious against Tuivasa. The heavy-handed Aussie became the first person to land a knockdown against Gane when he floored his adversary with a big right hand in the second round. Gane recovered and ultimately put Tuivasa away in the third round in what could be a star-making performance for the MMA Factory representative. Ngannou, who was present cageside, is well aware of Gane’s strengths.

“That fight was very electric, though,” Ngannou said. “There were good actions in the fight. At some point, you see the fight was half-half and then it switched back to Ciryl’s side, which is what I thought. As far as distance, he’s good at controlling that and he was able to apply that in the fight tonight. You can see the body [shots], that’s what got him the victory. It was just like strategic, technical type of fight.”

Ngannou is still in the process of recovering from knee surgery, which he underwent following his win over Gane. He’s confident in his progress, but it’s likely that he won’t be able to return to action until 2023 at the earliest.

“I don’t have any timeline or exact timeline for the return,” he said. “I’m going to see the doctor one week from now. I’m following up with the doctor to see how it’s going. But it’s going pretty good. But you have to give it some time. It’s not like it’s going to be great. It’s been five months.”