In MMA, one simple mistake can cause your downfall and that turned out to be the case for Ciryl Gane.

With Francis Ngannou departing the promotion earlier this year, Gane was given the opportunity of a lifetime — to only challenge for the heavyweight title a second time at UFC 285, but to face arguably the greatest fighter of all time while doing so in Jon Jones.

Many observers gave him a good shot as well, as he was a natural heavyweight who had been fighting in the division for some time while Jones was making his debut in the weight class after a three-year layoff.

What transpired was something the Frenchman would prefer to forget. Jones was able to time a takedown well and lock in a front guillotine submission to secure the quick first-round submission victory.

And while it was the Jones' heavyweight debut, Gane was not surprised not surprised by his strength.

“Like I said before this fight, I knew already Jon Jones is an athlete,” Gane told MMA Junkie. “He’s an athlete like me. He did a lot of sports; me too. He’s not only just physical, but in his brain. Everything is ready to be a good athlete and physically also.

“And I knew already he’s going to be ready for this fight. He trained a lot during the three years, so I was not surprised by that, no.”

But what actually led to the takedown was a mistake from Gane, who revealed he didn't follow his head coach Fernand Lopez's instructions.

“I don’t know why exactly, but I cannot manage my distance very well during some moments, and I did a mistake,” Gane explained. “It wasn’t possible to manage the distance, and I did some stuff to break this atmosphere, and I did a mistake at this moment.

“Maybe he knew already I’m going to do this mistake, and he took his opportunity. … During all the camp Fernand Lopez told me every time we started training, jab and no big hand. Just jab. And what I did? A big hand. Big mistake, and he took the opportunity.”

Gane will be looking to bounce back from just his second-ever defeat when he headlines UFC Paris against Serghei Spivac on Sept. 2 at Accor Arena.