"I'm a father, I have 2 sons" - Fernand Lopez doesn't want to 'compare' Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane

MMA Factory head coach Fernand Lopez finds himself in an awkward situation as he is currently training Ciryl Gane to lock horns with his former pupil Francis Ngannou at UFC 270. The 43-year-old recently refused to compare the two heavyweight bigwigs when asked to cite the differences between them.

In a recent appearance on Submission Radio, the Cameroonian admitted he did not want to step on anyone's toes by picking the superior fighter between the two. He diplomatically claimed that both fighters were experts in their own ways.

According to Lopez:

"I'm a father. I have two sons. And you want me to tell you who is better than who and just get me in trouble because the other son will say, 'Oh, you see. He starts to pin me down again. He start to say bad thing about me again.' So let it be. These two guys are very good guys. They are very good fighters. They are the top of the world. I think the one who is the strongest guy that we can have with the powerful power and a lot of intelligence and the other one is a computer... which is strong. That kind of computer. So, yeah, I don't want to compare them cause again I might sound like kind of bitter and salty. I don't want to keep doing that."

Watch Fernand Lopez's appearance on Submission Radio below:

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Francis Ngannou vows to knock Ciryl Gane out

Francis Ngannou is currently coming off five consecutive knockout wins in the UFC. His UFC 260 clash against Stipe Miocic was the only fight that went past the first round since 2018. Safe to say 'The Predator' is one of the fiercest knockout artists in the UFC.

In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, the heavyweight champion declared he was going to knockout Ciryl Gane in two rounds in their upcoming clash at UFC 270.

"The knockout doesn't come when I search it, so I won't be searching for the knockout, but I don't see how we will end this fight without me knocking him out, maybe under 2 rounds," said Ngannou.

Watch Francis Ngannou's interaction with TMZ Sports right here:

The 35-year-old went on to claim that Ciryl Gane was not "as tough as Stipe", whom he finished at UFC 260 in the second round. He further opined that 'Bon Gamin' would not be able to cope with his pressure.

Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane will headline UFC 270. The event is set to take place on January 22, later this week on Saturday. The action will unfold at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.