Paris, France — Heavyweight Ciryl Gane, who headlines UFC Paris this Saturday for the second straight year, recognizes that he wasn’t the only one disappointed with his performance against Jon Jones earlier this year.
Gane (11-2), a former interim champ and two-time heavyweight title challenger in the UFC, was quickly submitted by the returning “Bones” at UFC 285 this past March.
“Me at first, I was really disappointed. I’m a competitor, so of course I was really disappointed. And the people on social media, but not only [on social media], in the real life also was disappointed,” Gane acknowledged during Wednesday’s UFC Paris media day. “A lot of people were behind me for this fight about Jones, and everybody knows it’s not exactly the result we expected. Because everybody knows I can put more difficulty against Jon Jones. So everybody was really disappointed.”
“At first, me, I was really disappointed and that’s why we want back to the gym really quick.”
Once Gane did get back to training, “everything we needed to change, we did it. We changed a lot of programs,” he stated.
Part of what changed was an increased focus on self. “I think it’s to be more focused on me, just me. And not around me. It’s exactly what we did,” stated Gane. “Preparing this fight— during the camp for Jon Jones, this added a lot of experience for me. Even if I lost my fight, it was a big experience for me as a fighter, but also as a human, as a person. Today, yeah, every experience, even painful, builds you stronger. This is who I am now.”
Asked whether he attributes the loss to Jones to his opponent, or his own insufficiency, Gane replied that both were a factor.
“Both. Jon Jones is a really, really great fighter, and he did very well. And we knew already he would like to go on the ground game, and at this moment I did a mistake. So this is my fault also. But he did very well, but it’s his fault also,” Gane said with a laugh. “So Both.”
Gane’s fight this Saturday marks his seventh straight UFC main event. “This has been something, of course, and I’m glad of that,” he told Cageside Press during media day. But his love of fame and the spotlight has waned, it seems. “At the beginning, you are really happy. I’m this kind of person; every promoter is different. At the beginning you are really happy to have everything like that, all the cameras on you and everything. All the cameras, the lights, outside, on you. But now, no. I’m done with this. I’m really done with this. I just want to win every fight and go to the top, as far as I can do.”
His time now, added Gane, will see him “focused on myself and no person, no person, nothing but just the gym, the training, the family. And that’s it. I’m like that.”
“When you started your career, yes you like that a little bit, you enjoy it a little bit, but no, I’m done with this now.”
Watch the full UFC Paris media day appearance by Ciryl Gane above.
