Tag: Fernand Lopez

Fernand Lopez addresses Ciryl Gane ducking accusations from Tom Aspinall, Curtis Blaydes

Fernand Lopez wants to clarify some accusations of Ciryl Gane allegedly ducking fights.

[autotag]Fernand Lopez[/autotag] wants to clarify some accusations of [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag] allegedly ducking fights.

Gane (12-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) has been subject of criticism for not fighting, and Lopez thinks that notion is unfair. Lopez is both Gane’s manager and head coach.

Gane hasn’t competed since finishing Serghei Spivac last September in Paris. Interim heavyweight champion [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) revealed that before drawing [autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] (18-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 304 headliner, the UFC tried to book him against Gane, but Gane declined.

Lopez says Gane did indeed turn down the fight offer for UFC 304, but only because he had already committed to filming a movie with Netflix – and the UFC was well aware of that. Lopez also denied Blaydes’ claim that Gane was offered a fight against him.

“The first and the only time that the UFC ever offered Tom Aspinall was for July (27),” Lopez told MMA Junkie. “Before that, people are messing up everything. Tom Aspinall is calling out Ciryl. When you call out someone, that doesn’t mean anything. Like Ciryl called out Tom Aspinall, and Tom Aspinall just said, ‘I don’t want you, I’m looking forward. I’m waiting for Jon Jones,’ which makes sense because you only look forward and try to have more money, more challenge.

“So, Jon Jones is the challenge for Tom Aspinall now. …If you get in the cage with Jon Jones, with Francis Ngannou, why should he be scared? I mean this is his job, but it’s only about timing, it’s only about the opportunity. No one gave me any offer for (Jailton) Almeida. No one gave me any offer for Curtis Blaydes. You can talk to Mick Maynard, Dana White, Hunter Campbell. No one gave any offer for Tom Aspinall before July (27), no one gave any offer for Curtis Blaydes. Never whatsoever. So people keep saying Ciryl is ducking, ducking. He’s not ducking anyone. If making a choice is ducking, then you don’t understand the game.”

Lopez says Gane was willing to fight Aspinall at UFC 300 in April, but Aspinall was expecting a bigger fight. By the time Gane was offered Aspinall at UFC 304, he had already committed to filming his movie.

“I asked Mick Maynard and Hunter to put Tom Aspinall for UFC 300,” Lopez explained. “But they couldn’t because Aspinall was expecting Jon Jones to accept the fight. I will not ever say Aspinall is ducking Ciryl. This guy is a monster, he’s a brave guy. But when Ciryl call him out, and he said no to Ciryl, it’s because he has a better offer. He’s expecting better. He wants for himself, for his family, for his legacy, he wants to fight Jon Jones which makes sense. I totally understand him. That’s the game. But that’s not honest for him to say Ciryl ducked him.

“Where is the proof of that? Who said that Ciryl said no to him? Ciryl never said no to him. He couldn’t fight and even when the UFC was asking, and I could show you the message. They were like, ‘We know that this is the frame of time that we gave you to do the movie, but still we are trying. Can you let down the movie and come do this?’ This is too much. Ciryl will get sued and go to court and pay tons of money to Netflix to stop that movie from going. The only offer for UFC 300 was Pavlovich and Pavlovich said no.”

Pavlovich wound up fighting Alexander Volkov last month at UFC on ABC 6, losing a unanimous decision. Now, Gane will run things back with Volkov at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi after defeating him convincingly in June 2021.

[lawrence-related id=2743233,2731667,2723853,2695643]

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 304.

Fernand Lopez: Francis Ngannou ‘might just shock the world’ against Tyson Fury

Francis Ngannou could possibly upset Tyson Fury in their upcoming boxing match, says former coach.

PARIS – [autotag]Fernand Lopez[/autotag] believes his former pupil [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] has already won ahead of his upcoming boxing match against Tyson Fury.

Although the pair once had a bitter falling out, Lopez has since attempted to move past their differences. Now, ahead of arguably the biggest moment of Ngannou’s fighting career, Lopez has nothing but support to offer, and isn’t surprised to see the former UFC heavyweight champ’s bet on himself pay off.

“He always finds his way to make it, and he made it,” Lopez told MMA Junkie. “No matter the sport result, he’s already a winner.

“… When you have the right to fight the most dangerous fighter in boxing, in another sport without having even a single boxing fight, then you made it. You made it. You’re champ, you won already. If you take out everything that’s done with MMA, who will allow someone coming from nowhere to go there and talk with Tyson Fury? So he made it already. He’s a champ already.”

Ngannou will step into the ring for his professional boxing debut Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in a non-title bout against WBC heavyweight champion Fury. The fight eventually came together after Ngannou took a chance on himself after walking away from the UFC without having lost his title. Not many believed he could pull it off, but Ngannou had the last laugh when the official announcement of the fight was made in July.

While oddsmakers and pundits see “The Gypsy King” as a sizable favorite, Lopez isn’t so quick to count out Ngannou’s chances of pulling off an incredible upset.

“People that are saying that he has zero chance, I don’t think (so),” Lopez said. “I think that anything can happen. We saw Conor McGregor hitting (Floyd) Mayweather. Hitting a couple of uppercuts and people was like, ‘That’s fake.’ Because it was unbelievable. Someone coming from another sport, who can match a couple rounds with someone that is the best of the best in his only sport. That’s crazy. That’s just crazy if you really think. So we may have Francis there giving some shots.

“There’s a small, slight part of chance. If he have that chance to hit the chin when he’s fresh, he might just shock the world. Who knows? So, I don’t want to say there’s no chance, there’s zero chance. I want to say congratulations to him. Very good move to go to the boxing at the end of the day. And then, good luck for him because you have to keep dreaming, and he might just shock the world.”

[lawrence-related id=2673984,2669963,2668358]

For more on the matchup, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Fury vs. Ngannou.

Coach Fernand Lopez unsure of what happened to Ciryl Gane in Jon Jones loss: ‘He was in a good state of flow’

Coach Fernand Lopez reflects on Ciryl Gane’s loss to Jon Jones.

PARIS – [autotag]Fernand Lopez[/autotag] won’t make any excuses on behalf of [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag].

The coach of MMA Factory knows they failed in their goal to take the UFC heavyweight title in March when they faced Jon Jones at UFC 285. A lot of people were disappointed to not only see Gane (11-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) come up short, but also see him tap out in just two minutes of the fight.

Many have pointed at Gane’s mentality, while others have questioned his dedication to training and quality of wrestling preparation. Lopez shut down all those questions and simply said Jones was the better man that night.

“What’s good about this sport is that MMA can humble you and make you think twice,” Lopez said. “I’ve become more humble. There more I know, the more I grow and the more I learn, the more I feel small and I don’t know anything. I don’t know what happened. I cannot be sure of what happened. I can just tell you what I know. What I know is that I felt him fine all the way, all the training. I felt him serious about Jon Jones. He knew what he was doing.

“… Ciryl was focused. He wanted to win the fight. I wanted to win the fight, and we failed, and we just have to take that. If you have a race, 100-meter race, and you and me decide to run. If you run better than me, that can be the case that I didn’t do anything wrong, and you’re just better than me, and you beat me in the race. This is something that can happen. Let’s stop trying to point to someone and say, ‘Who did this? Who didn’t do this?’ No, sometimes you just have to understand that Jon Jones was good that day. He was in a state of flow and he was good. We did a couple of mistakes and that’s it.”

Gane returns to the octagon this Saturday in his home country of France. He takes on Serghei Spivac (16-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) in a key heavyweight matchup that serves as the main event of UFC Fight Night 226.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=420030788]

[pickup_prop id=”34029″]

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 226.

VIDEO: Fernand Lopez, Eric Nicksick share wholesome moment backstage after UFC 270

UFC 270 was an emotional rollercoaster for Fernand Lopez, but that didn’t stop him from respecting his adversaries.

UFC 270 was an emotional rollercoaster for [autotag]Fernand Lopez[/autotag], but that didn’t stop him from respecting his adversaries.

Lopez’s star student [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag] (10-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) fell short in his pursuit to unify the heavyweight belt with his former teammate [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] (17-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) in the main event Saturday. Despite the intense buildup, Lopez paid his respects to Ngannou and his head coach [autotag]Eric Nicksick[/autotag] after the fight.

“Congratulations @xcmma @francisngannou & @eric_xcmma one of they bests in the game #ufc270🥊💥”

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CZGdI7otpdZ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Lopez’s sentiments toward his former pupil Ngannou are well documented. Ngannou’s falling out with Lopez led to his departure from MMA Factory Paris and after Gane’s fast rise, Lopez found himself coaching against Ngannou.

After dropping Rounds 1 and 2 on two of the three judges’ scorecards, Ngannou rallied by using his grappling to defeat Gane, who perhaps cost himself the fight in Round 5 when he attempted a heel hook that lost him top position. UFC 270 marked Gane’s first loss, but a respectful Nicksick responded to Lopez with some encouraging words.

“Respect, Coach. Safe travels home, and good luck with your team and your fighters. You guys are doing an exceptional job! 🤝”

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

[vertical-gallery id=2032348]

[listicle id=2031865]