Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou defended his title for the first time at UFC 270 on Jan. 22 against previously undefeated and former interim titleholder Ciryl Gane.
In an interview posted to his YouTube channel, Ngannou discussed the win over Gane and accused the fight promotion of protecting Gane with favorable stylistic matches until the title unification bout at UFC 270.
“You don’t usually get into the UFC and get to fight for the title without fighting a wrestler. That’s the rule. In this case, he seems like he was protected. They were protecting him, and they were just hyping his striking style. This isn’t a striking game. This is a fighting game,” Ngannou said.
If you look at Gane’s UFC opponents, all of them are predominately strikers including Ngannou. Ngannou was able to utilize takedowns and his wrestling to defeat Gane by unanimous decision.
Ngannou also discussed his knee injury heading into the bout, when he felt like Gane broke in the fight, and what the win meant to him. See the full video below.
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(Video Courtesy of Francis Ngannou)
Francis Ngannou says UFC protected Ciryl Gane from facing wrestlers | Video
