“Exactly what the UFC was waiting for,” Champion Francis Ngannou claims the snubbing incident at UFC 268 was ‘created’ by the promotion
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Francis Ngannou
UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou is not just a man amongst the elite fighters but the Cameroonian heavyweight has his own bad blood too, not with a fighter though. After Ngannou left his first gym, MMA Factory to join Xtreme Couture, the head coach of the former gym, Fernand Lopez and Ngannou have some reservations against each other which have led to bad blood between them, it’s only a matter of time how deep it is between them.
Ngannou will now make his first defence of his championship reign in a title unification bout on January 22, 2021, at UFC 270. And surprisingly, he will fight his former teammate and protege of his former coach Fernand Lopez of MMA Factory, interim UFC-heavyweight champion Cyril Gane. This is going to be a clash between a ferocious and accurate power puncher in Ngannou versus kickboxing, a volume heavy and versatile striker in Gane. Regardless, the fight stays on the fighters’ feet.
UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou details recent snubbing incident
In an interview with UFC Legend Daniel Cormier on his Youtube channel, Francis Ngannou described the recent snubbing incident that occurred at UFC 268 where he was recorded by a media person from the UFC and one can see Ngannou snubbing and walking past his former teammates, Cyril Gane and UFC Middleweight Nassourdine Imamov and his former head coach Fernand Lopez on his way to the arena. The snubbing was rather more surprising because Ngannou’s manager Marquel Martin did stop by to greet Lopez.
“That’s exactly what the UFC was waiting for. When you look at that video, they were waiting for me around the corner,” Ngannou said as transcribed by MMA Fighting “It’s not like they wanted the story, the bad blood — they created that [scene]. … What happened is there was this lady taking us to our seat, [my manager] Marquel [Martin] and I, and she was bringing us to this section — and then they talked to her over the radio. Then she was like, ‘Oh, sorry, I’m wrong,’ so she turned around and we get back [and they were there].“
“Tell me how this gets to be a coincidence,” Ngannou continued, laughing along with Cormier. “That’s what happened. I’m telling you what happened. … And when you look, by the time I come from [around] the corner, the guy was ready with the camera. If you watch that video, he was on me by the time I turned around the corner and just zoomed in on me, like, ‘Oh, he’s there, he’s coming.’ Like this movie scene. He was there waiting for [me].”
“It’s not like you see somebody and you’re like, ‘Oh damn, let me film this moment.’ No, come on. His camera wasn’t just there waiting to film something if ever something happened. No, he was waiting like he knew who’s coming. He knew that I was coming.” said Ngannou emphasising repeatedly that it was all planned.
On his UFC 270 opponent Cyril Gane’s reaction Ngannou said, “Obviously, as his coach said, he’s naive, he’s naive, I would’ve been confused too because if I walked by Gane [alone], I would say hi. If it’s just him, I would say, ‘Hi, what’s up?’
“I didn’t even see Nassourdine [Imamov, UFC middleweight and former teammate], who fought that night. And I don’t have any problem with Nassourdine, I don’t have any problem with Ciryl. But I know the guy next to him and it’s going to be awkward. And if I say hi to them without saying hi to Fernand, and they respond, I think that might cause them a problem as well. So this was a very confusing situation — like, OK, what can you do here to get out of here?” concluded Ngannou.
What do you think of Francis Ngannou’s reason for snubbing his former team? Who do you think wins between Ngannou and Cyril Gane? A beef between a former coach and a fighter is something very rare, so do you see this coming to an end anytime soon between Ngannou and Fernand Lopez?
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Abhai Singh Tanwar
(1386 Articles Published)