"It opened my eyes a little bit" - Ciryl Gane details how losing to Francis Ngannou changed him as a fighter

Ciryl Gane claims that his loss to heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou at UFC 270 has changed him as a fighter. The setback was a great learning experience for him as he goes into this weekend's UFC Fight Night Paris event against Tai Tuivasa.

Gane shed light on the notion of winning, which left very little doubt in the fighter's head. But it is the losses that sometimes teach the biggest and most important lessons.

Speaking with Kevin Lole from Yahoo Sports, Ciryl Gane reflected on his loss to Ngannou:

''When you win you don't have too much questions on your head. When you lose this is very different. This is not because I lost my fight, I'm feeling very bad. No! I was really okay.''

However, he added that the loss opened his eyes and matured him as a fighter:

''It opened my eyes a little bit. And I think, I must have found a bigger motivation. This was an experience for my mind, my maturity.''

In their UFC 270 heavyweight title unification bout, Ciryl Gane had tremendous success early on with his striking against Francis Ngannou. 'The Predator' quickly pivoted and used a wrestling-heavy approach to take Gane down several times and maintain ground-control to earn a unanimous decision victory.

Watch the interview with Yahoo! Sports below:

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Ciryl Gane will use distance and reach against "dangerous" Tai Tuivasa

Ciryl Gane is all set to face Tai Tuivasa on home terrain when UFC Paris goes down at the Accor Arena in the French capital this weekend. The event will also mark the organization's debut in France.

The originator of the shoey wave, Tuivasa is a force to be reckoned with. He was once overlooked by matchmakers for his three losses, which came after a blitzing 9-0 run in MMA. Since then, 'Bam Bam' has made an impressive turnaround. He faces the biggest challenge of his career when he meets the crafty Frenchman in the octagon.

While previewing his fight against Tuivasa, Ciryl Gane said that he will use his reach against 'Bam Bam':

''He's dangerous. My reach is a little bit longer than him. So I'm gonna keep the distance. My strength is my footwork and my distance because this guy is very dangerous.''

'Bon Gamin' will look to bounce back from his loss to Francis Ngannou that put an end to his perfect unbeaten record as a professional mixed martial artist.