Featured: Ciryl Gane: The Next Heavyweight Great

 Ciryl Gane: The Next Heavyweight Great?

One of the biggest criticisms of the Heavyweight division in recent years, is the lack of depth and lack of top blue chip level prospects. Ciryl Gane, 30, is looking to change that.

Coming by way of La Roche-sur-Ton, France, Gane has quickly shot up the Heavyweight ladder and is looking like he could be one of the next great Heavyweight fighters. He was an undefeated kickboxer and a Muay Thai National Champion in France. He then began his transition to MMA in 2018 and started training at the MMA Factory in Paris, France with head coach Fernand Lopez, who also found Franncis Ngannou. Since making his MMA debut at TKO Fight Night 1, he has amassed an undefeated record of six wins and zero losses. He has three wins via submission, two via KO/TKO, and one via decision. In every fight so far, he has yet to be dropped and has rarely ever put himself into a bad or compromising position. This is a byproduct of his style and the way he approaches fights. 

First off, at 6’5, he is a big and strong guy, and has muscled his way into a takedown on almost every fighter he has faced. His ground technique is pretty clean for a guy that has only been doing MMA for a little over two years. He has shown that he has multiple submissions in his arsenal and does not seem to have too many holes in his ground game based on what I have seen thus far in his career. His striking is his bread and butter and I would expect him in the future to have many more KO’s as a result of his striking style. He has a 82 inch reach, which he uses very well. He can stay on the outside and use his kickboxing techniques to his advantage or get in the pocket and throw bombs on the inside as well. Another big aspect of his striking is his footwork. If you look at him, you would think that he is just another big slow Heavyweight that plants their feet and just throws punches from the hip. Gane is very light on his feet for a big man and can get in and out of punching range with ease. This gives his opponents a lot of problems, especially in the later rounds, as Gane also has good cardio to go along with everything else.

After having four fights get cancelled between now and March of this year, and after having surgery to correct the pneumothorax that he has been dealing with, Gane will get a huge step up in competition this weekend and face former UFC Heavyweight Champion. Junior dos Santos (21-8, 15-7 UFC). When asked about the quick step up in competition, Gane said this:

“I want to say a big thank you to the UFC because I know it was a little complicated to find an opponent for me this year,” he began. “Fighting against a man ranked behind me isn’t a good deal for me, but the people ahead of me don’t want to deal with me because I’m young and I don’t have a great deal of experience, so it’s not a good deal for them.”

“If I win against Junior, the people will know that I’m ready for the big names,” he added. “So now we’re going to see and I’m going to do my best against this big man.”

“I’m really excited,” Gane said about the matchup. “For real, I can’t wait to be in the cage against this guy and I want to prove I belong, that’s for sure.”

JDS, 36, is on the longest losing streak of his career currently, losing three straight by KO/TKO. He will have a huge experience advantage in this one and is still a threat to knock anybody out on any given day. His chin has been withering away slowly throughout the past couple of years and I would expect Gane to test it. On MyBookie, Gane is about a -425 favorite to win the fight. I think that line is a little far in Gane’s favor. While I do think he will win, I would have the line for him to win at about -250 just because of the experience gap and the fact that JDS can still knock anyone out. A win in this fight would be the biggest of Gane’s career so far and he would prove that he is ready to make a permanent move to the top of the Heavyweight division and fight high-level opponents. This fight will be the first fight on the main card of the PPV, barring any last minute cancelations, and it should be a great way to start the show!