Ciryl Gane is a 28-year-old heavyweight prospect from France. Prior to entering mixed martial arts, Gane compiled a 13-0 record in kickboxing with wins over Brice Guidon, Yassine Boughanem and Daniel Lentie. Although it is believed that he was on his way to becoming a top heavyweight kickboxer, Gane made the decision to transition to mixed martial arts. The Frenchman is currently 2-0 in MMA with wins over Bobby Sullivan and fellow top prospect Adam Dyczka.
Gane trains out of MMA Factory under the guidance of Fernand Lopez. MMA Factory has produced a lot of top fighters including Christian M’Pumbu, the Lapilus brothers and most recently Francis Ngannou.
Strengths
Athleticism
Gane’s athleticism is evident the first time you look at him. Standing at 6”5 with an 83-inch reach and weighing just over 240 lbs, you could argue that he has the perfect frame for a heavyweight. His athleticism really shines through the way he moves. In the Dyczka fight, Gane stayed on the outside but closed the distance very quickly when he decided to attack before retreating to his preferred range.
Striking
Coming from a kickboxing background it isn’t surprising that Gane’s striking is one of his strongest points. Gane is comfortable at long range as he can close the distance quickly as well as use his long reach. However, he is also very dangerous in the clinch where he utilises his Muay-Thai skills with punishing knees to the body.
Composure
Gane hurt Dyczka several times in their fight but remained composed and did not rush to finish the job. This is very impressive to see from an inexperienced heavyweight as often fighters empty their gas tank trying to get the finish. Perhaps, this level of composure comes from his kickboxing fights where he faced a higher level of strikers in comparison to those in MMA.
Unknowns
It is difficult to spot weaknesses in Gane’s game just yet as he has only had two professional MMA fights. Instead, we will look at the areas that will be key to any success moving forward but Gane still hasn’t shown.
Durability
Durability is key for any fighter but especially heavyweights. Although Gane had a successful kickboxing career we still do not know how durable he is in mixed martial arts. His first two fights have been relatively straightforward and he did not get hit with many significant strikes. In many ways, it is better to never really find out if a fighter has a good chin or not but in most cases it is inevitable. For a striker like Gane being durable might be even more important as he will look to spend the majority of his fights on the feet thus increasing the chance of being hit by his opponent.
Conditioning
In the Dyczka fight, Gane utilised a lot of movement early on and had a lot of success as a result. However, Gane’s movement slowed down as the fight went on and he was not as light on his feet as before. Despite this, Gane didn’t look overly gassed and was still able to remain technical. It is also important to know that Gane reportedly fought with a collapsed lung which may have negatively affected his cardio.
Grappling
Coming from a kickboxing background and being such a technical striker will likely mean that Gane’s future opponents will be looking to take the fight to the ground and test his grappling skills. In his debut, Gane was able to secure a guillotine thus showing that he is not clueless when it comes to grappling. However, we are yet to see if he is able to defend numerous takedowns as well as what happens if he is taken down.
Future
With only two professional fights under his belt, Gane should look to gain more experience outside of the UFC. Unfortunately, the TKO heavyweight division is not very deep TKO will likely have to look outside of the organisation to find a suitable challenger for Gane.
In the long term, I believe Gane can go all the way and become a top contender in the UFC. Gane’s striking and athleticism could already be enough for him to already beat several ranked UFC heavyweights. However, there is no need for him to rush his career and he should look to gain experience by taking a few more fights before looking to sign with the UFC.
We have already seen Gane’s former sparring partner Francis Ngannou reach a title shot in a relatively short period of time. We’ve also seen the potential issues that an inexperienced prospect may run into when he faces the division’s elite when Ngannou lost to Stipe Miocic. Therefore, Gane can look at Ngannou’s rapid rise as both inspiration and a cautionary tale.