Ciryl Gane did not let himself — and his country — down on Saturday, as he successfully returned to his winning ways when he demolished Serghei Spivac in a heavyweight bout in Paris. Gane needed just two rounds to take care of business and score a technical knockout win against his Moldovan opponent.
The win must feel great for Gane, especially since he was under immense pressure to pull off a victory following a tough submission loss at the hands of Jon Jones back in March.
“I’m not going to lie: I’ve got the pressure, and I want to do well,” Gane said in front of the media following his win over Spivac (h/t MMA Junkie). “This is not a game of basketball or soccer. That’s different. Just that, you have some emotion that’s really different. (I was) a little bit afraid, a little bit pressured. You want to do well.”
It can be remembered that Gane lasted just less than a minute inside the Octagon against Jones in UFC 285, succumbing to the all-time great via guillotine choke. Such a loss can be demoralizing to any fighter, so for Gane to come back from that defeat in the manner he did against Spivac was as comforting as it is encouraging for him.
Now that he's won again, Ciryl Gane, who improved his overall MMA record to 12-2-0, just put himself closer again at a title shot. He can dream of a rematch against Jones, though, the champion has a scheduled title defense against Stipe Miocic in November's UFC 295.