Ciryl Gane doesn’t care about the criticism before UFC 334.
This weekend, Gane makes the first defense of his heavyweight title when he takes on Josh Hokit in the main event. But Gane’s status as champion is controversial given the way he took the title, where his eye pokes injured undisputed champion Tom Aspinall to such a degree, that Gane then fought for an won an interim title, only to be promoted while Aspinall’s eye issues have lingered. To make matters worse, Alex Pereira has repeatedly attacked Gane for illegal back-of-the-head strikes in their interim title fight, leading to Gane to heavy criticism from fans.
But for Gane, the controversy surrounding his many fouls is all nonsense.
“I think it’s a kind of frustration, or in any case, a struggle with acceptance that’s hard to deal with,” Gane told RMC Sports Combat. “‘Yeah, the good kid seems nice; he’s cool and all that. Go ahead, he’s not a warrior. How is it that he’s beating us when we’re the real warriors? We’ve been doing this since we were little; he just shows up. He does this and that with a good mood!’ Maybe it’s like, ‘I won’t leave it like this. I’m going to drag his name through the mud.’ Because honestly, when I look in the mirror or when you see the training at the gym, you don’t see strategies like eye-gouging [laughs].
“I’m not here to try and convince anyone. I train hard. I control what I can control: my training, my fights, and so on. The rest, I try never to raise my voice or say anything out of line. I really try to respect all of my opponents from start to finish. And actually, by beating them, I’m respecting them. So I don’t know. I find it quite a shame, honestly. I find it a shame, but once again, there’s no need to talk about me on the web.”
One person who is sure to talk about him is Josh Hokit, whose rapid rise up the heavyweight ranks has come, in part, due to his pro-wrestling antics and trash talk. But Gane isn’t worried about that.
“He does it to destabilize certain fighters who are susceptible to being destabilized. I don’t think I am,” Gane said of Hokit’s antics. “I work a lot with my mental coach to make sure I’m not. And in reality, he also makes me laugh a little when he doesn’t cross the line or insult too much. He has moments that are quite funny.”
