Ciryl Gane headlines UFC Paris this weekend, so we are going to take a look into why the Frenchman may be down, but not out.
Gane will face off against Serghei Spivac in the main event of the evening in front of his beloved home crowd. This will be the second time that Gane has headlined in Paris and will be hoping for history to repeat itself.
Last time out, the atmosphere in Paris was absolutely electric as Gane went toe-to-toe with Tai Tuivasa. Gane, on that night, had to come through some adversity. He was dropped heavily by the heavy handed ‘shoey’ drinker. Gane went on to stop Tuivasa and give the French fans a night to remember.
Ciryl will be looking to bounce back following a second failed attempt at championship gold as he was handily beaten in the first round by Jon Jones last time out.
Was Ciryl Gane ‘Exposed’ by Jon Jones?
The word ‘exposed’ gets thrown around too often. For me, it seems a little harsh. In one simple word, it almost discredits the athlete and their accomplishments to date. Now, if you were to ask me, were Ciryl Gane’s grappling weaknesses exposed in his last fight against Jones, then I would say yes, absolutely.
Had Jones been the only one to do this to Ciryl Gane, then I would feel a little less convinced of this fact. However, suffering defeat in the way that he did against an elite wrestler like Jones is one thing. Suffering a defeat to Francis Ngannou, in a fight where the former champ relied heavily on a wrestling game plan is something else.
Gane has undeniably shown that he has areas where he can improve. His footwork, speed and shot selection is as good as anybody in the division but he needs to show improvements in the grappling fundamentals, if he is ever to go on and become champion of the world.
You Don’t Need to Know It All
Ciryl Gane has been written off by some analysts, fans and fighters due to this clear deficiency in his skillset. The argument that I would make for not writing Gane off would be this… Take a look at Israel Adesanya. Adesanya has only lost twice in his MMA career. As far as key names for this argument go, he has beaten Derek Brunson, Kelvin Gastelum, Yoel Romero and Marvin Vettori. The one thing that these names all have in common? They all really quite heavily on their wrestling. Yet Adesanya was able to beat them. Why?
The reason why, is because Adesanya has been able to pick up and learn the fundamentals along the way. He can, to a certain extent, defend takedowns and control the distance. He can get back to his feet and he can avoid submissions. What we are talking about here, are the fundamental skills that all mixed martial artists need, in order to be competitive against a wrestler.
Adesanya is able to go into fights knowing that he can fight his kind of fight because he is confident that he can keep the fight standing which is where he excels. Ciryl Gane ‘should’ have taken note of this. He doesn’t need to become one of the greatest wrestlers in MMA history, he doesn’t need to be able to lock in an Omoplata. The aim is to keep the fight where he wants it. Which is, of course, easier said than done.
Quick Learner
Write Ciryl Gane off at your peril. Does he have a glaring weakness in his game? Yes, he does. Are you convinced that this can be rectified in such a short time? If not, allow me to try to convince you.
Ciryl Gane has only been competing in mixed martial arts for five years. That’s right, five. He started in 2018. It took him just one year in MMA to get signed by the UFC. Since then, he has beaten Junior Dos Santos, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexander Volkov, Derrick Lewis and Tai Tuivasa.
The only two people to defeat him? Jon Jones, the greatest of all time and former champion Francis Ngannou. Are we really going to write off a man who has only lost to two of the absolute best in the world? To top that off, in Gane’s short spell in the UFC, this will be his seventh main event.
We are talking about an extremely talented athlete here. One who has made mistakes in past bouts? Yes. One who has a gaping hole in his game? Sure. But consider this, if Ciryl Gane can put his mind to MMA and learn at a pace that sees him become a two-time world title challenger. Are you telling me that he can’t pick up the necessary skills to defend a takedown in a relatively short space of time?
Down but Not Out
Gane was embarrassed, last time out. He was written off and ridiculed. Do not let the smiles and the jokes this week fool you. This is a man that will be out to make an absolute statement. Whilst Spivac will be looking to keep his impressive run of form going and claim the biggest scalp on his resume. This is one not to be missed.
Ciryl Gane may be down, but he is certainly not out. Do not be surprised if he reminds us all of that, this Saturday night.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
