Ciryl Gane had to go back to the drawing board, but the big Frenchman is ready to resume his quest to capture the undisputed heavyweight title. Gane can move one step closer to that goal on Sunday night when he takes on former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira for the vacant interim heavyweight title on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington DC. It’s a massive occasion, and one that Gane says will deliver a spectacular night of action.
"We were there two weeks ago, so I got the feeling already, but yeah, it will be crazy,” he told UFC.com. “I'm going to be really focused on my fight, but for sure the pictures will be beautiful.”
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The fight itself has turned into the best-case scenario for Gane after his last outing ended in frustrating fashion. Gane was challenging Tom Aspinall for the undisputed heavyweight title and was enjoying a very positive opening round against the Englishman when Gane accidentally poked the champion in both eyes, leaving him unable to continue. For Gane, it was a night of frustration as, after a positive start, an accident robbed him of the chance to follow through on his gameplan and, potentially, win undisputed gold.
“Unfortunately, we didn't expect this end to this fight, but we started very well,” he recalled. “We did a really great camp for Tom Aspinall, so we were really happy about the first round. Unfortunately, yeah, I was a little bit sad, a little bit confused, a little bit angry. But yeah, just after the fight, I was happy about my performance.”
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An immediate rematch looked the likely outcome, but with Aspinall’s injuries worse than first thought, the Englishman was forced out of action as he underwent double eye surgery. And with the heavyweight division needing to keep moving, Gane was matched against Pereira, who had already announced his intention to move up to heavyweight.
Now the pair will meet on the White House lawn for the interim heavyweight crown, as Gane welcomes Pereira to the heavyweight division. When asked about the possible challenges Pereira might face in making the move up, Gane quickly dismissed any thoughts of difficulty for the Brazilian, especially having already sized up the towering Brazilian at the pre-event faceoffs.
“I don't want to say it's going to be hard for him because it's not his division, because I'm pretty sure if you jump into the heavyweight division, it's because he can do it, and we saw already, he looked big,” he said. “My question was how he did (the weight cut to fight at) middleweight. That’s really crazy, because he’s 6-foot-4, like me, and gonna be heavy, like me, like a normal heavyweight. So yeah, it’s gonna be a real matchup of heavyweight fighters.”
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As part of his training camp, Gane drafted in two-division GLORY kickboxing world champion Artem Vakhitov to help give him the inside track on what it’s like to trade leather with Pereira. Vakhitov faced “Poatan” in back-to-back title fights in 2021, losing his light heavyweight title to the Brazilian on split decision, only to bounce back in the rematch to recapture the belt with a majority decision victory.
The 30 minutes spent trading shots with Pereira amount to a wealth of priceless experience, and Vakhitov has helped Gane tap into that knowledge as the Frenchman prepares to face the Brazilian on Sunday night. For Gane, it’s been a hugely beneficial addition to his camp, as he explained.
“He's a beautiful striker, and he's a huge fighter, technical fighter, really fast, and with a good fight IQ,” Gane said of Vakhitov. “But also, yeah, we're looking for some advice. It’s always a plus when you have a guy who has had real contact with Alex Pereira (because) he can have some advice about the feeling he had during the fight.
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“When you watch a fight, and when you do a fight, it's completely different. The feeling is completely different. So, yeah, (I got) really good advice from Artem.”
Armed with valuable input from someone who knows what it’s like to fight, and beat, Pereira, Gane heads into this weekend’s title fight quietly confident. “Bon Gamin” is never one to shout from the rooftops about his abilities, but he’ll step into the fight with the knowledge that he has the tools to do the job.
“Everybody knows I'm a great athlete,” he said. “I move very well, I’ve got good conditioning, I'm smart, I’ve got a good fight IQ. I'm not focused on this strategy to go to the ground game, the wrestling game, but I can do everything. I look like a good striker, but I'm pretty sure I'm a well-rounded fighter.”
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And when it comes to how he’ll get that job done on Sunday night, Gane admitted that he isn’t sure how things will pan out on the night. All he’s focused on is getting the victory, by any means necessary.
“I don't know (how the fight will play out), I'm not a magician,” he said. “But yeah, I want to win this fight for sure. If it’s by decision, by submission, by KO, it doesn’t matter. I just want this belt.”
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