Fernand Lopez explains why Francis Ngannou walking past Ciryl Gane did not surprise him
Francis Ngannou used to train at the MMA Factory in Paris under head coach Fernand Lopez. Ngannou moved to Xtreme Couture in 2018 after a bitter falling out with Lopez.
In a recent incident that went viral, Ngannou failed to acknowledge Lopez and former teammates Ciryl Gane and Nassourdine Imavov backstage at UFC 268. Lopez recently revealed why he wasn't surprised when Ngannou walked past him.
What struck Fernand Lopez was Ngannou's failure to acknowledge Nassourdine Imavov. According to Lopez, Imavov had gone the extra mile to help Ngannou with his training at the MMA Factory. Lopez further told DC:
"Nassourdine Imavov almost gave his life for Francis. Because in the sparring the thing that I was doing is that I was teaching Francis to do not wrestling and keep light on the feet and then the exercise was if he touch you, you consider that you are down. So keep moving and just picking apart move. And what Francis was doing, he will not move and just try to contact him with pick a pocket. Like hurting the guy, like really hurting him. But Nassourdine Imavov is a very nice guy and he give everything to lift Francis up. I couldn't imagine Francis going across Nassourdine, not even saying, 'Hey my man, I'm with you.'"
Catch Fernand Lopez's interview with DC below:
Francis Ngannou explains why he didn't greet Fernand Lopez
Francis Ngannou did not want to give rise to controversy by interacting with Fernand Lopez and Ciryl Gane. Ngannou claims he was thankful for the cameras when he came across his former coach. 'The Predator' told DC in an earlier interview:
"I am like okay should I say hi? Then, I'm like I don't know. I might go closer and say hi and then somehow you will hear that I have said this, which is not what I said. So I'd rather stay in the distance. It was good that the camera was there. I needed that. It's not like we're friendly. He's attacking me all the time. So I can't do that. You know I don't feel like it."
Watch Francis Ngannou's interview with Daniel Cormier below: