Things between former teammates Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane just got a bit more complicated.
While appearing in front of the media for his UFC 270 media day appearance, Ngannou said he knocked out Gane in training, in the past.
When asked about recently leaked sparring footage showing Gane getting the better of the heavyweight champion, Ngannou said “It wasn’t sparring footage. It was a clip of the sparring footage. Because the footage doesn’t look that good.”
“Yes, I knocked him out,” Ngannou said. “(It was) a high kick, left high kick. That knockout wasn’t a voluntary knockout. It was in sparring. It was an accident. I didn’t intend to knock him out. I didn’t go there to knock him out. Personally, it’s not something that I feel proud of. I don’t walk around and feel all tough because I knocked my sparring partner out or down or whatever. Usually stuff like that happens in training, but it’s always an accident because we’re committed to taking care of our partner.”
Ngannou also explained just how much time they actually spent as training partners.
“We just spent a few sessions in three weeks,” Ngannou said. “It was maybe six sessions of training, definitely less than eight. That was back in January 2019, because after I fought Curtis Blaydes in China, I went back to Cameroon and on Christmas I had the Cain Velasquez fight. So, I couldn’t come back to Vegas in time to set up a training camp because the fight was on February 17th.
“I stopped in France and trained there for one month and at the time Ciryl was there training for his fight, I believe. So, he left even before I left. I think it was three weeks before I left to go for his fight. So after that, I think it was February 3rd, I flew to Phoenix, I was there two weeks before my fight, and that’s it.”
Ngannou vs. Gane will take place on Saturday from the Honda Center. The bout will serve as the main event for the evening and the heavyweight title will be on the line.
Francis Ngannou says he KO’d Ciryl Gane in training … but it was an accident
