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Ciryl Gane says disappointing loss to Jon Jones triggered key changes: 'I have to be more focused on me'

PARIS – Ciryl Gane says he’s made sure to learn a lesson from the biggest hiccup of his career.

On the grandest stage of his run as an MMA fighter, Gane had arguably his worst performance – a quick and lopsided submission loss to Jon Jones back in March. It took just about two minutes for Gane to tap to a guillotine choke against Jones, and at no point did he have the fight going in his favor.

“Me at first, I was really disappointed,” Gane said at UFC Fight Night 226 media day. “I’m a competitor. Of course, I was really disappointed and the people in the social media, but also the people in real life were disappointed. A lot of people were behind me for this fight against Jones, and everybody knows it’s not exactly the result we expected, because everyone knows I could put some more difficulty against Jon Jones.

“So everybody was really disappointed, and some people expressed themselves on social media and stuff like that. Yeah, at first I was really disappointed, and that’s why we went back to the gym really quickly.”

Now, six months later, Gane (11-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) returns to the octagon in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 226. He takes on fellow contender Serghei Spivac (16-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC).

Although the defeat to Jones stung, Gane said a lot of changes came from it, and he’s determined to show that this Saturday.

“Everything we need to change, we did it,” Gane explained. “We changed a lot of things around. I think I have to be more focused on me, just me, and not around me, and this is exactly what we did. Preparing for this fight, during the camp of Jon Jones, this added a lot of experience for me even if I lost my fight.

“It was a big experience for me as a fighter, but also as a human and a person. Every experience that’s painful builds you stronger.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 226.



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