Fernand Lopez won’t let Ciryl Gane get involved in his personal problems with Francis Ngannou.
Lopez, who coached both Ngannou and Gane at MMA Factory Paris, has been an integral part of both heavyweights’ rise. Ngannou tore through the ranks en route to a title shot against champion Stipe Miocic in 2018, but ultimately fell short in a lopsided unanimous decision loss.
Relations between Lopez and his star student started to deteriorate and eventually Ngannou (15-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) left Lopez and moved to Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. In the meantime, Gane (8-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) was also working his way up the heavyweight division and catapulted himself to the top five with a dominant win over Jairzinho Rozenstruik in the main event of UFC Fight Night 186.
So, with Gane on the cusp of title contention and Ngannou set to rematch Miocic for the heavyweight title at UFC 260, a matchup between the pair may be on the cards in the not-too-distant future. The build-up, with Ngannou’s history with Lopez, is sure to create some drama, but Lopez said he won’t let Gane be dragged into the storyline.
“It’s not a personal thing,” Lopez told MMA Junkie. “Since Day 1, Ciryl has been prepared for this, for that fight, at some point. Being prepared mentally to be split from my case. My case, my disagreement with Francis Ngannou, should not be a legacy for Ciryl Gane. I don’t need any revenge. They weren’t friends, but there was respect. I still have some tapes of Ciryl meeting Francis, talking, hugging each other.
“They are gentlemen and they respect each other and, again, Francis had never been bad with Ciryl at any point. They had very good sessions sparring with no problems. Ciryl would pull Francis up or Francis would pull Ciryl up no problem. So I don’t really want him to get with that charge in the shoulders thinking about the coach. I’m not in the equation.”
Gane, who goes by the moniker, “Bon Gamin,” which means “nice guy” in French, is not one to engage in trash talk in the lead up to his fights. So Lopez expects things to be the same if Gane ever faces Ngannou and despite potentially coaching against his former student, he’d have Gane approach it like any other fight.
“They are people doing the business and this is the good part about Ciryl,” Lopez said. “Ciryl last week, whenever he’d see Jairzinho Rozenstruik, he’d say hello to him, hug him. Ciryl doesn’t need to be mad in order to be mean in the fight. He can be very mean. Being a gentleman outside the ring, but being very mean in the octagon.
“So I don’t need him to get pumped by the fact that there’s a storyline or a narration saying that there was a beef between Fernand Lopez and Francis Ngannou. No, it doesn’t have to be a part of that, so I don’t want him to get on that and, since Day 1, he knew that I didn’t want him to get involved in anything regarding Francis. Francis will just be another opponent if that happens.”
Coach Fernand Lopez insists that future Ciryl Gane vs. Francis Ngannou fight won’t be personal
