Ciryl Gane has opened up on his submission loss to Jon Jones back in March for the heavyweight title.
Gane was looking to become the undisputed champ as he was taking on Jones in the main event of UFC 285. It was an intriguing matchup and many thought the layoff would impact ‘Bones’ too much as well as moving up to heavyweight.
Yet, in the first round, Jones got a quick takedown and got ahold of Gane’s neck, and submitted him. It was a disappointing loss for Gane, and he says him not throwing a jab right away played a key role in the loss.
‘Big Mistake’
“I don’t know why exactly, but I cannot manage my distance very well during some moments, and I did a mistake,” Gane said to MMAJunkie. “It wasn’t possible to manage the distance, and I did some stuff to break this atmosphere, and I did a mistake at this moment. Maybe he knew already I’m going to do this mistake, and he took his opportunity. … During all the camp Fernand Lopez told me every time we started training, jab and no big hand. Just jab. And what I did? A big hand. Big mistake, and he took the opportunity.”
Making that mistake was also disappointing for Ciryl Gane as in the few moments the fight was on the feet, he said he thought Jon Jones was not as fast as he usually was. With that, the Frenchman believes that had the fight stayed standing, he would have had success due to him being the faster striker.
“He was not fast,” Gane said. “Maybe he was not fast, but I was not good, too. I didn’t manage my distance. I was not good, but I remember he was not fast. He didn’t have fast hands. He had power because he touched me, I don’t remember where, but he landed some punches with power, but not fast.”
Ultimately, Ciryl Gane didn’t get the chance to prove that as he did suffer a first-round submission loss to Jon Jones. Now, following the loss, Gane is set to headline UFC Paris against Serghei Spivac.
