“Sick, tired, can’t do that anymore,” Francis Ngannou’s former coach aims to end bad blood with him ahead of UFC 270

MMA Factory, France’s premier mixed martial arts gym, has been revolutionary in becoming the home of the growth of MMA in France. This gym made its breakthrough through the current UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou first when Ngannou came into the UFC knocking out people left and right and became the first person from France to fight for a UFC title. After that, Ciryl Gane, another protege from the same gym, became the first French UFC champion when he won the interim heavyweight belt last year.

It all attributes to the head coach of MMA Factory, Fernand Lopez, who’s not undisputedly but arguably enough, the godfather of MMA in France for legalising the sport which was rooted in years of legislative efforts. While Lopez’s still coaches Gane, Ngannou and Lopez have a quite contentious relationship, unfortunately. With some beef that included complaints about each other from Ngannou’s and Lopez’s sides, Ngannou left the gym back in 2018 to train at Xtreme Couture in the USA. Since then, Ngannou and Lopez have traded only negative take on each other in various media appearances.

Coach Fernand Lopez doesn’t want to be like Francis Ngannou’s ex-wife

Coach Lopez recently did an interview for Submission Radio where he talked about UFC 270, which is headlined by a title unification bout between his current student, the interim-champion Ciryl Gane and his former student, the undisputed champion Francis Ngannou. Despite the bad blood, however, coming into fight week, coach Lopez seems to have enough of his history with Ngannou and now would rather settle in for a resolution or a break.

“These 2 guys [Gane and Ngannou] are very good guys, are very good fighters, on top of the world… I don’t want to compare them because again, I might sound bitter and kind of salty, I don’t want to keep doing that,“ said Lopez.

“I’m totally sick [of him and Ngannou beefing] my man, I’m tired. I can’t do that anymore, like listen… I’m not talking like a coach, I’m talking as an agent… I was Francis Ngannou’s agent and I’m Ciryl Gane’s agent [now], so as an agent my role is to make sure that I get the most of what he [Gane] is doing as a career make the most that he can have.

So if I have to be authentic to make that prepare [perhaps saying ‘promo’ since English is not Lopez’s first language], I will be authentic, and again I don’t want to sound like the ex-wife who does not [want to] let go because they get split, you know,” he concluded.

What do you make of coach Fernand Lopez’s comments on making peace with Ngannou? It seems like no matter how bitter a split goes, the relationship between some coaches and students stays pristine regardless, or at least a part of it is always about wanting to each other be happy in their respective lives. One can only hope Ngannou and Lopez make and stay on good terms in future.

Also Read: WATCH! Ciryl Gane releases a super intriguing promo of his own for his title fight at UFC 270

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