"What woman is sparring Francis Ngannou?" - Laura Sanko weighs in on 'The Predator' saying he spars with women
Laura Sanko recently gave her take on Francis Ngannou saying he spars with women. Sanko suggested that given Ngannou’s massive stature and incredible KO power, it’s unlikely to picture a scenario wherein he spars a woman.
During the UFC 270 pre-fight press conference, Ngannou addressed the viral video footage of a 2019 sparring session with his UFC 270 opponent Ciryl Gane. The video was purportedly released online by the Cameroonian's former coach Fernand Lopez, who also trains Gane.
Ciryl Gane vs Francis Ngnannou en sparring 🏴 https://t.co/BNSKFlw48v
The video shows Ciryl Gane outworking Ngannou. Nevertheless, ‘The Predator’ claimed that the other videos, which Lopez is withholding, show him knocking out Gane with a left high kick. 'Bon Gamin' fired back by stating that he was knocked down but not knocked out.
Furthermore, Ngannou alleged that Gane was unable to continue sparring that day. As things got heated up at the press conference, Bon Gamin’ accused the Cameroonian of hitting him hard despite having agreed to engage in a technical sparring session.
The Cameroonian then responded by admitting that he landed the hard kick unintentionally, quickly dismissing the notion that he isn't too fond of engaging in technical sparring sessions.
Ngannou said:
“Let’s be honest. And you say I don’t spar technical sparring. I spar with 155’ers. I spar with girls. And they don’t complain.”
UFC analyst Laura Sanko touched upon this during the UFC 270 Weigh-In Show. A former MMA fighter herself, Sanko stated:
“It sounds like Ciryl did walk out of practice, though. I mean, who knows? The knockdown. Was he out? Was he down? Was he not down?”
Laura Sanko and Daniel Cormier suggested that Ngannou and Gane’s explanation regarding the sparring session was confusing.
Sanko continued:
“It’s very messy. I came away from that [UFC 270] presser also wondering – What woman is sparring Francis Ngannou? When he was like, ‘I spar girls.’ And my mind went, ‘Who? Wait, what? That’s a big girl.’”
Watch Laura Sanko address the Ngannou-Gane sparring debate here:
Francis Ngannou predicts a KO win within two rounds at UFC 270
In an interview with BT Sport, Francis Ngannou asserted that Ciryl Gane isn’t as durable as his previous opponent Stipe Miocic. Predicting a KO win over Gane within two rounds, Ngannou said:
"Yeah, yeah, of course! That [knockout] is my prediction on that two rounds... Going on to the next second fight I know with Stipe he is tough and he might need more than one punch to go to sleep. So you know I might not put him to sleep that easy. But definitely Ciryl does not have the same chin.”
Watch Francis Ngannou's full interview with Michael Bisping here:
UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou will face former training partner and interim champion Ciryl Gane for the undisputed heavyweight championship at UFC 270 on January 22nd. The winner of this matchup could very well be in line for a superfight with former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.