“I wasn’t confident in my striking”- Francis Ngannou acknowledges he was losing the standup battle against Ciryl Gane
Francis Ngannou beats Ciryl Gane
Francis Ngannou accepted he wasn’t much comfortable with his standing game in the fight against Ciryl Gane.
Ngannou and Gane were successful in giving the fans a great heavyweight title to remember for a long time. Both fighters showed immense fighting spirit and gave their best to win a precious championship belt. Before the fight, Gane seemed to have an advantage in the striking department as he is very technical and moves like a middleweight fighter. On the other hand, Ngannou in his last fights was only dependent on his brute force while punching.
Ngannou failed to deliver a deciding strike in the early rounds and as the fight went deep the fighter decided to change his style and bring out wrestling into the scene. This move helped Ngannou to take the only advantage of Gane against him, making the fighter totally helpless.
Francis Ngannou on his developed wrestling skills
Ngannou was interviewed by BT Sport after his exciting fight against Gane at UFC 270 this Saturday night. The champ was asked about his new strategy and utilizing wrestling to stop Gane. Answering the question, the French-Cameroonian explained that wrestling isn’t something new to him and has been a part of his training for a long time. He just never needed those skills in any of his recent fights as he is used to knocking opponents down in the first or second round. But in that fight, he got the chance to showcase his wrestling.
“It’s something we have working on for so long but I didn’t just have the opportunity. Since I had the opportunity to do that so I did it and you know just did what I have to do to win the fight.”
The fighter accepted that he was having a bad time adjusting his striking against Gane and was at a disadvantage. Moreover, his injured knee was another factor behind the disadvantage in a standout battle. So, he thought of changing his style in order to defeat his challenger. “I wasn’t very confident in my striking, I wasn’t very stable on my stance. So kind of like take that as an opportunity to get away,” said Ngannou.
Soumya Ranjan
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