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Ciryl Gane admits he wasn’t himself when he fought Jon Jones last March for the vacant UFC heavyweight title.
The only time Gane (12-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) finished his professional career was against Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC). Gane pulled off a guillotine choke just over two minutes into the fight.
“When I think back, it was obvious that I wasn’t there,” Gane said in French on “UFC 310 Countdown.” “It represented exactly how I felt on the day of the fight. It was a complete misunderstanding of what was happening.
“I don’t recognize myself there. It’s something I’ve never done in my life. I’ve never fought like this before. My distance management, my movements, the vigilance that I like to do proof, I had none of that.
It’s not a knock on his resume to lose to the sport’s GOAT consensus. Jones has suffered losses to many great fighters over the years and has often made things look easy. But for Gane, he is disappointed that he did not give his best in the biggest moment of his career.
Gane bounced back well in his next appearance six months later, where he stopped Serghei Spivac in the second round to get back on track.
The French heavyweight returns to action at UFC 310 to face Alexander Volkov. Gane knows this is another opportunity to prove he belongs in the title conversation. With lessons learned from his fight against Jones, Gane believes he is a renewed fighter focused on the goal of becoming champion.
“Looking back, I think that experience may have been beneficial,” Gane said. “For me personally, it helped me refocus on myself. It gave me a spirit of revenge, a spirit of competition.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ciryl Gane reflects on ‘complete misunderstanding of what was going on’ in loss to Jon Jones
