HOUSTON – Ciryl Gane is not only unfazed to be fighting in enemy territory, but he seems to be enjoying it.
Gane fights Derrick Lewis on Saturday in the main event of UFC 265 for the interim heavyweight championship. It’s a fight that takes place in Lewis’ hometown at Toyota Center.
The Frenchman doesn’t expect he’ll be getting too much praise when he walks out to fight Lewis in a few days and feels like that atmosphere might set things up for an interesting bout.
“This is not a problem for me. I’m comfortable with this situation,” Gane told MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s UFC 265 media day. “I can understand. It’s a sport, and they are his fans, but if tomorrow it’s in Paris then you know. The fans are going to make the fight a little more fun.”
The winner of Gane vs. Lewis is expected to fight undisputed champion Francis Ngannou in the near future.
But before Gane can get his hands on Ngannou, he’ll have to pass a tough test in Lewis, who’s got the most knockouts in UFC heavyweight history.
“Everybody knows his big strength is his power, and he has a bomb in his hand,” Gane said. “So, yeah, we worked on it. We had some specific partners and, yes, the goal was, because the two fights were really close, was just to maintain my conditioning.”
You can watch Gane’s full session with reporters in the video above.
UFC 265 takes place Saturday at Toyota Center and streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN 2 and ESPN+.
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