Ciryl Gane has heard the dirty fighter talk for a while now, and the UFC heavyweight champion has decided he owes nobody a rebuttal.
Speaking with RMC Sport Combat, in comments picked up by MMA Fighting, Gane said the accusations trailing him come from opponents who have a hard time swallowing a loss. “I think it’s a kind of frustration, or in any case, a struggle with acceptance that’s hard to deal with,” Gane said.
He also brushed off the suggestion that illegal techniques are part of his training, and he specifically rejected the idea that he practices eye-gouging. Then he closed the door on the whole debate.
“I’m not here to try and convince anyone. I train hard. I control what I can control,” Gane said.
The Frenchman added that he respects his opponents and called the continued criticism disappointing. The timing is no accident. Gane makes the first defense of his undisputed heavyweight title against Josh Hokit at UFC 334 this Saturday, Nov. 14.
How the label stuck
Most of this traces back to UFC 321 and his fight with Tom Aspinall, which ended in a no-contest after accidental eye pokes left Aspinall unable to continue. That’s the official ruling, and the word accidental is doing a lot of work in it. Plenty of people have refused to read it that way ever since.
Gane followed that by beating Alex Pereira for the interim heavyweight championship. Pereira came out of it accusing Gane of landing illegal strikes to the back of the head. Those complaints are Pereira’s allegations and nothing more. No ruling backs them up, and nothing in the record shows Gane fouled anyone on purpose.
With Aspinall still dealing with eye problems, the UFC eventually promoted Gane to undisputed champion. So the man holding the real belt got there through a no-contest, an interim strap and a promotion. Not exactly the cleanest chain of custody in heavyweight history, and I say that as a guy who has never once been happy to see an interim belt.
Hokit can talk all he wants
Hokit has been loud all build, which is his whole brand. Gane says it bounces off him.
“He does it to destabilize certain fighters who are susceptible to being destabilized. I don’t think I am,” Gane said.
He credited his work with a mental coach for keeping the noise out of his head, and he admitted some of Hokit’s antics actually make him laugh. That is about the most French-heavyweight answer possible to a guy trying to start a war of words.
My take: Gane is right to quit campaigning, because no quote was ever going to fix this. Arguing with Aspinall’s fans and Pereira’s camp is a losing hand. What fixes it is 25 minutes, or less, against Hokit where the referee never has to step in for a foul and nobody walks back to his corner holding his eye. Win clean on Saturday and the conversation finally shifts to who’s next. Leave even a sliver of doubt and he’ll spend another six months answering this same question.
