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Former UFC interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane is set to return to the octagon this weekend against Sergey Spivak.
Gane will look to come back to winning ways after suffering a first-round submission loss at the hands of Jon Jones earlier this year. Gane's bout at UFC 285 was his second shot at the UFC heavyweight championship after previously failing to clinch the title against Francis Ngannou last year.
Interestingly, Ciryl Gane's lack of wrestling expertise was a concern heading into his fight against Jon Jones and it is exactly what 'Bones' capitalised on. Moreover, Gane was even offered a chance to go to Dagestan and train with Khabib Nurmagomedov and learn how to wrestle.
Khabib Nurmagomedov personally urged the Ciryl Gane to train with him and said:
"Ciryl Gane, come to Dagestan brother. He have to come to Dagestan, stay there [and] learn how to wrestle [and] learn how to [defend]. After a couple of years he can be champion."
Ciryl Gane reflects on his loss to Jon Jones
Speaking at the media day for UFC Fight Night 226, Gane opened up on the things he learned from his loss against Jon Jones, as well as his feelings on the fact that he is unlikely to get the opportunity to seek revenge on 'Bones'. Gane said:
"Jon Jones is a really great fighter and he did really well... Even if the fight was just 3 minutes, this is good. This had a lot of experience for my career. A lot. So yeah, I'm gonna use everything I can to be better for the future, for my next also... We wanted to fix it very quickly... I gave [myself] no choice."
Gane was asked about not being able to avenge his losses to both Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou, as the former has teased retirement while the latter has left the promotion. To which he replied by saying:
"C'est la vie. I'm not this type of guy - I don't have any nightmares. No, that's okay. I won't have my revenge, but that's okay. I'm gonna have my revenge against another guy. I just want to prove to myself [that] I can be a better version of myself, step by step."
