Fernand Lopez and Francis Ngannou have been at odds for years now and it all culminated in the showdown against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. Many were surprised to see Gane not try to exploit the injury with low kicks.

Fernand Lopez recently went on The MMA Hour and explained why they didn't try to exploit the knees at UFC 270. It had nothing to do with sportsmanship.

“When I saw that, David, Ciryl Gane’s brother, sent me a screenshot of Twitter saying that, ‘I heard someone that knows someone who has [been following] Francis say that Francis is hurt on the knee.’ That was on Twitter and I asked David, ‘Do you back this?’ David said, ‘No,’ and I said, ‘No I don’t buy this.’ When Francis got inside the Octagon and I saw the two knee wraps, I called Ciryl to come close to me and I said to Ciryl, ‘Don’t fall for the bait. Don’t go there for the low kick. He will counter you. I don’t believe that Francis is hurt. Don’t go there, don’t kick him or low kick, he will counter you.’ That’s what I said to him,” Lopez said of the fight at UFC 270.

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Fernand Lopez and Ciryl Gane didn't take the knee injury seriously and figured it was all just mind games. Lopez doesn't want things twisted though, they didn't take the claims seriously ahead of UFC 270 because of the way they found out.

“Again, I know how you guys can twist some things,” the UFC coach said. “I don’t want [people to say], ‘Fernand Lopez is saying that it’s a lie, Francis wasn’t hurt.’ I don’t say that. I’m saying that from my point of view, the way that the information of Francis getting hurt was leaked just a few hours before the fight, I thought that was a bait.”