Losing to Jon Jones had a different kind of impact on Ciryl Gane.
Gane (14-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) said the definitive fashion in which he lost to Jones in March 2023 at UFC 285 was a definitive turning point in his career. After that, the Frenchman went on to beat Serghei Spivac and Alexander Volkov before a disappointing no contest against then-heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall at UFC 321
caused by Gane inadvertently poking him in the eyes.While Aspinall recovered, Gane finished Alex Pereira to claim the interim heavyweight title at UFC Freedom 250 in June and has since been promoted to undisputed champion after Aspinall vacated the title due to ongoing complications with his vision.
"I think it was after the Jon Jones loss because it was a real loss,"
Gane told UFC on Paramount+. "The fight against Francis Ngannou was a little bit square, but after Jon Jones, something changed in my mindset because also the pressure of social media from everywhere. Like, 'Ciryl Gane, we overestimated him,' blah, blah, blah.
"I was disappointed. It was 2023, and I started MMA in 2019, so I already did pretty much in four years. One side of my head was about to give my back to everyone, but because I'm a competitor and because I want to prove to myself, I'm going to stay, 'I'm going to prove to myself.'"
A golden era for UFC heavyweights?
Gane defends his heavyweight title against Josh Hokit (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) in Saturday's UFC 334 main event (Paramount+) at Madison Square Garden in New York. He explained why he thinks this is the greatest era in heavyweight.
"You have many guys who are talented," Gane said. "For example, this guy, he's an athlete. He pretends to be good at basketball, but I'm not sure. He was good at wrestling. He plays football. He came to the UFC, (he's) 10-0. You have some guys who are Olympic champions like Gable (Steveson). You have many guys like this. That's why the light heavyweights want to come to heavyweight to shine because we know this is the division to be (at)."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ciryl Gane details how Jon Jones loss proved to be UFC career turning point
