Francis Ngannou believes the previously released gym video was designed to ‘make me look bad’ ahead of his UFC 270 belt fight with Ciryl Gane

There’s a great saying when it comes to combat sports: Controversy makes cash. Entering UFC 270 and the undisputed UFC heavyweight title bout between champ Francis Ngannou and challenger Ciryl Gane, the level of interest has only gone up a notch.

Footage of the wits between former MMA Factory teammates was released ahead of their game on January 22 from inside the Honda Center in Anaheim. Ngannou, no longer joining MMA Factory due to problems with former coach Fernand Lopez, is not pleased.

According to the champion, footage released is to make Gane look like the better of the two.

“When I saw that video, my first reaction was to laugh. Because I know exactly what happened during those training sessions,” Ngannou said on his YouTube channel, via Bloody Elbow. “But here’s the thing. When they want to like, highlight something, they always choose the part of the video that they use. And they had a lot of videos like that because at the time they were filming our training session to promote him, his fight and everything. So there’s a lot of footage from those meager training sessions. But a lot of them never debuted and never will. And I know for a fact that they will never appear.

“It was to make him look better and to make me look ugly, to prove that he was a man. I get really intrigued by those things sometimes. And then how they just control people’s minds, regulate their thinking. And they just think as if, all of a sudden, they’re going from one way of thinking to another. And I’m like, ‘wow, how easy it is to manipulate people,’ that they’re really good at manipulating. But at the end of the day, like I said, we both know, everyone knows a truth.”

Making her MMA debut in 2013, Ngannou joined the French MMA Factory from 2013-2018. He quickly rose up the ranks in the combat sports world while working with Lopez, eventually joining the UFC in 2015.

Failing to challenge the UFC heavyweight title at UFC 220 starting in 2018, Ngannou eventually joined Xtreme Couture. Since then, he has won five in a row, including the heavyweight title from Stipe Miocic in a rematch back in March. All five of those wins came by knockout.

Gane, a Muay Thai star, made his MMA debut in 2018, working early with Ngannou. Debuting in the UFC in 2019, Gane was promoted 7-0, beating Derrick Lewis for the interim title in August.

Ngannou discussed the rift between him and Lopez in one Interview with GQ Not long ago. He says that Lopez wants to be famous, and he complains that Ngannou, the boxer, is attracting attention. A feud begins as a result of it. The only drama between Gane and Ngannou came at UFC 268 when Ngannou didn’t sell Gane at all as he walked past him, sending an early message.

However, in the past, Ngannou has stated that their fight is not personal.

In addition to his issues with Lopez and his fight with Gane, Ngannou is tackling another fight with the UFC. When Ngannou won the heavyweight belt, he went to Cameroon, among other places, and helped his community. Instead of booking a fight with Lewis in September, the UFC decided to book a temporary title fight, delaying Ngannou’s return. There’s also the issue of the fight between Ngannou and Jon Jones coming to an end, and negotiations don’t go anywhere quickly.

Ngannou’s contract with the UFC is about to expire (soon after UFC 270), and UFC President Dana White has stated that he could leave the promotion if he’s unhappy there. White blamed Ngannou’s agent. Marquel Martin, representative of Ngannou, continued Sirius XM’s “Throw down with Renee and MieshaAnd claim they haven’t heard anything from the UFC about a new contract. CAA agents and White don’t seem to be on the same page, and Martin’s recent interview further illustrates that.

“They’ve made it pretty clear where they are, so it’s a pity, and I hate to say this, but it feels like a dead end,” Martin said. via MMA Fighting. “But it really isn’t. It’s like, we’d love to work with the UFC, we’d love to do business with the UFC, but they’ve chosen to go down the path that they’ve taken, and the path that we don’t feel is right. ”

Between UFC, Lopez, and Gane, Ngannou has a lot going for him towards UFC 270. With many obstacles in his way, he has to go through them one by one, starting with a fight for his heavyweight title.