Ciryl Gane is hinting at a wrestling-heavy game plan for his upcoming clash with Alex Pereira at the UFC White House event on the South Lawn.
Gane described the bout as an interim heavyweight title fight scheduled for Sunday, June 14th, and made it clear he is not locked into a pure striking duel with the UFC champion. The French contender suggested he may look to mix in takedowns and ground work against Pereira.
“I’m excited,” Gane said. “First, because it’s gonna be really historic. This is the first time we’re gonna see an event in a specific space like the White House. And I’m really excited also about the matchup against Pereira. Pereira is a beautiful champion, and he’s a beautiful striker.”
“I don’t want to say it’s gonna be 100% a striking matchup,” Gane added. “Like, this is MMA, and everybody knows I can do also some wrestling, some takedown, some stuff like that. I can finish the fight also on the ground. So I’m not gonna say 100% this is gonna be a striking matchup.”
Gane explained that his movement-based style was built from the start to deal with wrestling threats. “Everybody know already [my style],” he said. “I love to manage my distance. I love to move very well. I love to touch and never get touch. This is my style, the ‘Bon Gamin’ style, like the people say … My strategy when I started MMA, because I started very late, I was already, 24 years old. To escape the people who like to wrestle, I started to move very well. This is a type to defend the take down.”
