Published on: 02/09/2022 – 16:10 Flag bearer of French MMA, Ciryl Gane faces Australian Tai Tuivasa, world No. 3 in the heavyweight category, Saturday in Bercy, during the first UFC event, the most important MMA league in the world, organized on French soil. He is the most famous Frenchman in MMA. Ciryl Gane, 32, will be the headliner of the big UFC Paris evening, Saturday September 2, at Bercy. With his extraordinary physique and his eternal smile, the gifted Ciryl Gane has established himself in record time as one of the rising figures of the UFC. For the first event organized in France by the UFC, the most important organization of MMA to the world, it seemed obvious to propose a poster with him in the main fight of the evening. “Fighting in front of my fans, it’s incredible!” “I’m happy to be able to bring that to the French. unbelievable!”, he says, aware of his role as the standard-bearer of the discipline. “I have to lead by example. What does that mean? Train hard and win fights.”>> Read also: Francis Ngannou, former undocumented worker in Paris who became a world MMA star”J ‘I am aware of it and very flattered,’ he says. “I get messages like ‘My kid started MMA because of you’ etc. The best moment was when I passed a mum on the street, she gave me a hug and hugged me. said, ‘I didn’t want my son to do MMA and when he showed me videos of you guys, I was glad he started MMA and had an idol like you’.” “It was very flattering”, continues Gane, whose nickname “good kid” fits perfectly with the character. If he is today the emblematic figure of MMA in France, it is by chance and later that he discovered the world of martial arts. Arrived in Paris from his native Vendée for his studies, he did odd jobs that forced him to work weekends and therefore to abandon team sports, his childhood love. friend from my class of BTS was doing Thai boxing. He told me to come and try and that’s how I started”, he says. A rapid rise He is already 24 years old but the coaches detect immediately the talent of the colossus, with his 1.95 m and 112 kg. “Very quickly, the coaches asked me if I had ever done boxing. They said to themselves that I had potential and for three years, we had no faults”. That is to say 13 victories in as many fights. Then it is again chance that leads him to MMA, and especially to Fernand Lopez, the reference coach of the discipline in France. “I was looking for a club closer to my home and I came across Fernand Lopez’s room.” Recruited as a “sparring-partner”, he will not remain so for long. “Since he had enormous abilities, I was quite cash in telling him: ‘I think you can be MMA world champion, it’s a waste to continue Thai boxing'”, recalls the coach Cameroonian. Saturday evening, when he enters the octagon of a sold-out Bercy, Gane will play the first official fight of his career at home. It will also be his first since losing to heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou on January 23 in California. He was then fighting for the world belt, barely three and a half years after his debut in the discipline. The continuation of his ascent goes through a victory on Saturday against Australian Tai Tuivasa, world No. known for his monstrous knockouts which remain on five successes in a row. His feelings before the fight? “I don’t have more pressure than that. I’m really happy, I can’t wait for Saturday to see the atmosphere.”