Francis Ngannou claims Ciryl Gane and Fernand Lopez pretended they were upset after UFC 268 backstage snub - "They were acting"

Francis Ngannou has suggested that Ciryl Gane and Fernand Lopez were acting when they pretended to be upset after the UFC 268 backstage snub.

Back in November 2021, a video emerged online showing 'The Predator' walking past his former coach Fernand Lopez and his future opponent Ciryl Gane backstage at UFC 268. The moment was quite awkward as Ngannou completely snubbed the two.

In the days that followed, both Gane and Lopez expressed that they felt the Cameroonian's actions were wrong. However, 'The Predator' recently went on to claim that his former coach and teammate were just pretending to be upset.

In a recent interview with ESPN MMA, Francis Ngannou said:

"No, they wasn't offended. They were acting like they were offended because they know, the one who offended... I should have been the one offended by all the thing that Fernand is out there, like saying. The guy now had taken a mission on me to sabotage me just because we don't get along together, just because we don't work together."

Watch Francis Ngannou's full interview with ESPN MMA below:

Although both fighters claim there isn't any bad blood between them, the events leading up to their clash say otherwise. The former training partners will look to make a resounding statement in their highly anticipated heavyweight showdown this Saturday.

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Why don't Francis Ngannou and Fernand Lopez get along anymore?

'The Predator' trained under Fernand Lopez at the MMA Factory in Paris from 2013 to 2018. However, the two had a major falling out following Ngannou's win against Curtis Blaydes. The 35-year-old then decided to move to Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.

During an interview with GQ, Ngannou revealed that the fallout started because Fernand Lopez was in search of more spotlight. He said:

“Fernand’s problem is that he wants to be famous. I can count how many times we had to argue about how he thought I was taking all the spotlight… Bro, what do you want? If you want the spotlight, you know where the spotlight is. It’s inside the octagon, not on the side."

As one would expect, Fernand Lopez's story is completely different. Ngannou's former coach believes 'The Predator' turned into a different person after gaining popularity and success.