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Francis Ngannou clarified why he didn't greet his former head coach Fernand Lopez backstage at UFC 268.
The UFC heavyweight champion was caught on camera walking past Lopez and his trainee Ciryl Gane without acknowledging them. The duo were visibly shocked at Ngannou's gesture.
'The Predator' trained at the MMA Factory gym in Paris, France, under Fernand Lopez from 2013 to 2018. He later moved to the Xtreme Couture facility and is coached by Eric Nicksick.
Speaking to former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier during a recent interview, Francis Ngannou claimed he avoided Lopez and Gane to steer clear of unwanted controversy.
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"No, I did not want to say hi. I feel like I didn't want to say hi for my sake. Well, it has been a couple of year now that he's been out there picking on me. I mean like yeah I want to be nice. But you know when I saw him in that position, I have a few thoughts. I am like ok should I say hi? Then, I'm like I don't know. I might go closer and say hi and then somehow you will hear that I have said this, which is not what I said. So I'd rather stay in the distance. It was good that the camera was there. I needed that. It's not like we're friendly. He's attacking me all the time. So I can't do that. You know I don't feel like it," said Ngannou.
Watch Francis Ngannou in conversation with Daniel Cornier below:
Ngannou will next face interim heavyweight titleholder 'Bon Gamin' in a unification bout during the UFC 270 main event.
Francis Ngannou has never been finished in his career and never gone to a decision during a victory
Francis Ngannou is definitely one of the most exciting fighters in MMA history. He is 16-3 in his career and all three losses were via unanimous decision.
Out of his 16 victories, 12 have come by knockout and four by submission. Hence, he has neither been finished nor depended on the judges' scorecards in any of his victories.
Ngannou is on a five-bout UFC winning streak, four of which were first-round triumphs. He beat Stipe Miocic at a time of 0:52 in the second round to claim the belt at UFC 260.
