People who are hoping for a pure striking match between kickboxers Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane at the UFC White House event better temper their expectations.
That’s because Gane, who’s ground game has always been his biggest weakness, is suddenly talking about utilizing a much-improved wrestling game when facing Pereira on Sunday, June 14th.
“Bon Gamin” discussed the upcoming interim heavyweight title fight on the White House South Lawn with Megan Olivi on Paramount+’s YouTube channel.
“I’m excited,”
Gane said. “First, because it’s gonna be really historic. This is the first time we’re gonna see an event in a specific space like the White House. And I’m really excited also about the matchup against Pereira. Pereira is a beautiful champion, and he’s a beautiful striker.”
Perhaps too beautiful to strike head to head with? When asked how their kickboxing matched up, Gane suggested this would be no kickboxing match.
“I don’t want to say it’s gonna be 100% a striking matchup,” he said. “Like, this is MMA, and everybody knows I can do also some wrestling, some takedown, some stuff like that. I can finish the fight also on the ground. So I’m not gonna say 100% this is gonna be a striking matchup.”
It may not be the best plan to go to the ground with Alex Pereira, who may not be known for his wrestling and jiu jitsu prowess but is a BJJ black belt under Glover Teixeira. As for Gane, we saw what Jon Jones did to him when they fought in 2023: that bout ended in just over two minutes after Jones dumped Gane onto the canvas and locked in an effortless guillotine choke.
If Gane does stand and fight, it won’t be stationary right in front of Pereira.
“Everybody know already [my style],” he said. “I love to manage my distance. I love to move very well. I love to touch and never get touch. This is my style, the ‘Bon Gamin’ style, like the people say … My strategy when I started MMA, because I started very late, I was already, 24 years old. To escape the people who like to wrestle, I started to move very well. This is a type to defend the take down.”
“So that’s why we started to move very well, and step by step, we’re learning the ground game and the wrestling game. But, yeah, at first, it was for that.”
Has Ciryl Gane’s ground game progressed to a point where he could be a threat to “Poatan” on the ground? We’ll find out Sunday June 14th at the UFC White House event.
