Ciryl Gane wants Francis Ngannou fight in Paris in December or January: “It will be a really big fight”

Ciryl Gane is hoping his heavyweight title unification fight against Francis Ngannou happens in Paris, France.

Gane claimed the interim heavyweight title at UFC 265 with a TKO victory over Derrick Lewis. It was the Frenchman’s fourth fight since December of 2020 and now with his wife set to give birth, he is looking to take some time off but is interested in the fight happening late this year or early next.

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“I’m going to rest a little bit because I started to prepare for camp in July of last year. Since then, I have continued every week to prepare a new fight, just fight-after-fight-after-fight,” Gane said to BJPENN.com. “I just want to rest a little bit and I have my wife due soon with my daughter. It complicates training camp a little bit but maybe the end of this year or the beginning of 2022. If it’s possible in France as well.”

As Gane mentions, he hopes the heavyweight title against Ngannou can be the first UFC event in Paris. Gane lives in France and Ngannou has ties to the country as well. With that, the Frenchman knows it’s the perfect fight for the UFC’s first experience in France.

“For the first UFC event in Paris, France it will be a success for sure,” Gane said. “It will be really great.”

Not only will Ngannou vs. Gane be a big fight for the division, but a storyline is there. They had trained together in the past and even sparred together. Yet, Ciryl Gane says that was years ago so he doesn’t think it will impact the fight at all.

“It was good, it was really crazy for me. I just started MMA and he was already in the top-five so it was crazy to spar with this big name. I do feel lucky a little bit,” Gane explained. “We did spar a little bit, but not too much… No, we aren’t really close. We both have changed since we sparred, we do have some videos but I don’t know exactly how we will prepare for this fight but my coach will do the job.”

Once the fight is booked and Gane goes into training camp, he knows Ngannou will be the toughest test of his career. There are some similarities with Derrick Lewis as they both have one-shot KO power, but Gane knows Ngannou is the more well-rounded fighter which makes this scrap so interesting.

“Yes, he is more well-rounded, 100 percent. He has more conditioning and is an athlete too. The people want to see this fight and it will be a really big fight,” Gane concluded.

Who do you think will win, Ciryl Gane or Francis Ngannou?