Last week, surprisingly, Ciryl Gane revealed he was ‘lazy’ when it came to training, but his coach Fernand Lopez assures fans that was an older version of ‘Bon Gamin’.
Gane is set for his second crack at UFC heavyweight gold. The Frenchman will welcome Jon Jones back to competition on March 4th at UFC 285 for the vacant heavyweight title. Ahead of the showdown in Las Vegas, Gane admitted his approach to training was far from professional and has hardly trained since knocking out Tai Tuivasa in Paris last September.
“Unfortunately I’m lazy,” Gane said. “That’s the truth.”
Jones responded to Gane’s claims, insinuating that it was just mind games ahead of their fight next month – “I smell a trap, either way doesn’t matter, I’m training my ass off,” Jones tweeted.
Although Lopez confirmed there was some truth to the statement from his student, he disclosed there had been a mental shift in Gane after suffering his first-professional loss to Francis Ngannou in January last year.
I smell a trap, either way doesn’t matter, I’m training my ass off https://t.co/CrvyXAwynM
— BONY (@JonnyBones) February 22, 2023
Fernand Lopez discusses Ciryl Gane attitude towards training
“That’s true. That’s how Ciryl used to be,” Lopez told MMA Junkie. “Before, Ciryl was the kind of guy that will train only if he have the fight announced, and since the loss that he had, that was a very good thing that happened, is that Ciryl just changed his mindset, and Ciryl started to train even when we don’t have a date.
“Ciryl now knows that the evolution is coming when you don’t have a date, so you can improve, so you can learn, so you can add some tools. But whenever you have a date, you cannot think about evolution anymore. You’re thinking about the fight, how to beat this guy in front of you. So when they give you the name Jon Jones, everything drops at the development. Now you focus on how to beat the fighter.”
Lopez added that he feels Gane hasn’t had the necessary amount of time to prepare for a fight with Jones, given the unexcepted departure of Ngannou.
Lopez would have liked more time for Ciryl Gane
“So before, that was Ciryl,” Lopez said. “But now I don’t complain with that. And people – I don’t know why people are surprised when Ciryl is saying that. He didn’t have enough time. He’s not trying to have any excuse. He’s not saying any excuse. He’s being truthful saying that. A camp, usually a camp when we do a camp is like three months, right? But we didn’t have three months, because when they announced the fight we had less than two months. That’s what he’s saying.”
He continued, “This time we had to make it different, work to maintain the stamina, to maintain the strength that he had during the time that we didn’t have a fight. Even when he was injured, he kept training on the strength and conditioning. So, I’m not worried about that. What he’s saying is not any excuse, try to prepare an excuse like if he lost, in case he lost because he didn’t train. That’s bullsh*t.”
Quotes via MMA Junkie
What do you make of Ciryl Gane admitting that he’s lazy when it comes to training? Let us know in the comments!
