Not longtime training partners - Francis Ngannou sets the record straight on his history with Ciryl Gane

Francis Ngannou has made it clear that him and his former teammate Ciryl Gane haven't trained together for too long. In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, 'The Predator' revealed that he began training with Gane ahead of his fight with Cain Velasquez back in 2019.

Accoring to Ngannou, he's probably trained with Gane less than 10 times. Having said that, the reigning heavyweight champion believes it is impossible for the Frenchman to have figured out his weaknesses in such a short time.

"Ciryl and I, we trained together, that was in January 2019 while I was on my way from Cameroon to here [USA] to fight Cain Velasquez and we didn't train even 10 times because I was there for one month. I was getting ready for this fight and he was getting ready for his fight as well... I would say we share the octagon and a training mat, but not like we are a long time training partners. No, we didn't train that much you know so I don't think it was enough to like be able to say, 'Oh, we know this, we know that', you know?" Francis Ngannou said.

Check out Ngannou's interaction with TMZ Sports below:

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Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane go to war in the first UFC pay-per-view of 2022

Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane are set to go to war in a title unification bout which will headline UFC 270 next weekend. 'Bon Gamin' is undefeated in the UFC and has put away all of his opponents thus far with relative ease. Ngannou, however, is a different beast.

Likely the most dangerous knockout artist on the planet: 'The Predator' displayed a brilliantly well-rounded game in his rematch with Stipe Miocic. While Gane is the quicker fighter, Ngannou is deceptively agile and can finish fights with just one clean strike.

It'll be interesting to see who emerges victorious when these two heavyweights collide in the first UFC pay-per-view of 2022.