HOUSTON – Ciryl Gane doesn’t think his history with Francis Ngannou will give him any special advantages going into their UFC heavyweight championship unification bout. Gane (10-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) claimed the interim belt on Saturday when he outclassed Derrick Lewis to a third-round TKO victory in the UFC 265 headliner, which took place at the Toyota Center in Houston. It was one-sided from beginning to end, and put him in position to face Ngannou (16-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) next. It will be a fascinating build to the title unifier: Gane and Ngannou used to be training partners at MMA Factory in France and both were groomed by the same coach, Fernand Lopez. It’s been a few years since Ngannou was in the gym. He relocated to Las Vegas and now trains out of Xtreme Couture.
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