Ciryl Gane says he's doing strength training for first time leading up to heavyweight title unification fight against Francis Ngannou
Ciryl Gane has revealed that he's doing strength training for the first time since arriving to the promotion in preparation for his title fight against Francis Ngannou.
During a recent interview with Submission Radio, the 31-year-old spoke in detail about what he's doing to prepare his body for the task.
"It's the first time in my life. I've never done this [strength training]. When you are not a professional athlete you don't need to do strength and conditioning like that. After I started Muay Thai, that's not really the culture of Muay Thai. When I started MMA, I was always in a rush - and you see that in the conditioning training for the French, you need to have maybe three or four months between the fight. I was always in a rush when I started that three years ago, so that's why I never did this [strength training]. It's the first time I have the time, August to January, I have five months - but I started a bit late because of the holiday! I have three or four months to do this and I can't wait to see the results."
It's been clear for many people to see that Ciryl Gane has been a special athlete ever since he started making waves in the UFC. Now, with a 10-0 record, he'll meet Francis Ngannou for the undisputed UFC heavyweight championship at UFC 270 next year.
He managed to make it to that point thanks to his interim title win over Derrick Lewis back at UFC 265.
The matchup with Ngannou poses an interesting stylistic clash. Many are excited to see what Ciryl Gane vs. Francis Ngannou is going to look like. 'The Predator' has lethal one-punch power while the Frenchman relies on superior footwork and fight IQ.
Watch Cyril Gane's interview with Submission Radio below:
The improved Ciryl Gane?
Ciryl Gane's technical ability tends to be pinpointed as his biggest strength, but now, he wants to match the power of Francis Ngannou. This makes sense given how unbelievably dominant 'The Predator' has been in that department throughout his career.
Whether or not Ciryl Gane can make the necessary adjustments to overcome his rival remains to be seen, but nobody can accuse him of not covering all bases. This is the biggest fight of Gane's career thus far, whereas Francis Ngannou will be eager to continue his dominant run in the heavyweight division.