“You cannot predict the evolution”- Fernand Lopez reveals how he’s preparing Ciryl Gane for a fight against former mentee Francis Ngannou
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Fernand Lopez and Francis Ngannou, Ciryl Gane and Fernand Lopez
Ciryl Gane and Francis Ngannou are set to compete for the undisputed championship this Saturday in the UFC HW division. The fight is one of the best stylistic matchups in the history of the division. The most interesting storyline of the fight comes from their head coach Fernand Lopez, who is the head coach of Gane and former coach of Ngannou.
Fernand Lopez has blasted Ngannou for his behavior after his win over Curtis Blaydes. Lopez claimed Ngannou to have a big ego and that was the reason for their split. Lopez has been criticizing his former student ever since. Lopez is also the head coach of the interim champion and plans to get the undisputed belt to his gym this Saturday.
When asked if knowing Ngannou and training him for his year would give any advantages to their camp and makes it easier to predict Ngannou, Lopez said, “Yeah, it’s definitely easier but it’s not a big of advantage if I can predict Francis, Francis can predict Fernand Lopez. It goes both sides, either we know each other or we don’t know each other.”
Fernand mentioned that he studies all the opponents even if he has prepared for them, he studies his student’s fight and his opponents’ fight and makes a game plan that would work in their favor.
“I think I know him a little bit and there’s a little bit of him who has improved but still, I will do my duty which is, I have like protocols that whenever you give me a date, you give me an opponent, I will go on google or YouTube and I will search video and I will start again to watch all my guide video which is Ciryl Gane and I will start to watch all again all Francis Ngannou videos even I was there to coach him because I don’t want let any stone not turned so I make sure that I will check every all the box, check everything and I will make sure that.”
Fernand added that the most help they had from a fight was actually his win over Stipe Miocic. They want to understand what Ngannou is doing right and where are his weaknesses.
“I am aware of who he is become, one of the tips that was very important for me, his last win against Stipe Miocic. People sometimes focus on the loss because they think that if you see a video where he’s losing you might just adapt the same strategy but no I was interested by the victory that he had against Stipe.”
Fernand Lopez knows medical history of Francis Ngannou, used to share same beds
Lopez shared his relationship with Francis was very close. He and Ngannou used to share the same bed and have travel places together. They have shared thoughts and ideas and how he knows all the fears Francis has. He even knows the medical history of his former student which would be helpful in preparation against him.
“So, there’re things that you can predict bacause you know the guy. I did sleep so many nights in the same bed with Francis, I did travel so many fly, I did share a lot of things, a lot of thoughts, a lot of fear. So at some point you know the medical background of the person, you know almost everything on him and that can help you and better you.”
Fernand is also aware of Ngannou’s power and does not rule out the possibility of him knocking out Gane in the first round but believes in their camps preparations.
“You just have to aware that when you prepare the gameplan that you had for a guy, you can’t predict the evolution, you can’t predict the improvement so it’s still a gap and it’s still a possibility that Francis Ngannou just shows up there and knock out and bring the knockout power in the very first minute and make that happen. I don’t believe that but that’s still a possibility.”
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Deepak Kumar
(66 Articles Published)