Since the Cameroonian Francis Ngannou won in the premier category of MMA, is he all the more respected? UFC decided to offer an "interim title" to French Ciryl Gane. The two champions will face each other on January 22.
The American mixed martial arts (MMA) organization, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), is a real cash machine. Its founder and historic president, Dana White, succeeds in attracting sponsors with exceptional shows. To do this, he can count on the technical and physical capacity of the combatants. On the African side, more athletes were able to obtain titles. A growth market. So that UFC announces African tour in 2022.
Already in 2019, Nigerians Israel Adesanya and Kamaru Usman were the first two Africans to become world champions in MMA history. On March 27, 2021, Cameroonian Francis Ngannou became the third African athlete to obtain a belt, this time in the heavyweight category. MMA has become one of the most watched sports in the world. And Ngannou's story has inspired thousands of fans. On January 22, he must defend his title against Cyril Gane.
Ngannou and Gane, two fighters, two stories
Coming from a very poor family in Batié, Cameroon, and working in a sand mine, it was not until 2013 that Ngannou emigrated to France. On site, the humanitarian association "La Chorba" welcomes him and he begins his MMA training.
A few months later, he continues the victories and catches the eye of the promoters. In 2015, “The Predator”, as he is nicknamed, signed for the UFC and left for the United States. After fifteen victories, he faces the champion Stipe Miocic in March. A revenge during which he obtains his title.
Read: Francis Ngannou, the third African to win a UFC title
The UFC has since made an inexplicable choice. The federation has indeed organized a fight for an "interim" title. With, in the cage, the Franco-Guadeloupe Ciryl Gane, a complete stranger in the world of MMA. With 10 victories since 2018 and two French Thai boxing championships, Dana White had signed Gane after his victory against the Belgian-Moroccan Yassine Boughanem, the rising star of muay-Thai.
But here it is, Ciryl Gane is the second Frenchman to have a chance for a heavyweight title in the UFC. And despite a series of victories, UFC logic dictated that Ngannou defend his title, not that a side title be created from scratch for Ciryl Gane. Francis Ngannou has it wrong: “Yes, I have the feeling that the UFC disrespected me. They gave me the title of champion and, a few months later, they talk about someone else that I did not face as champion ”.
For her part, Dana White made it clear that if Ngannou lost the fight, his contract would not be renewed.
A political duel?
For the commentators of MMA, it is a “Ngannou vs Miocic ter” which should have been held. No one doubts the talent of French Ciryl “Bon Gamin” Gane. But the MMA community believes that the UFC has practiced a "colonial storytelling", with Gane playing the role of the tirailleur and Ngannou that of the African champion relieved of the prestige of his title.
The legitimate champion and the interim champion will face each other on January 22. Nonetheless, for Ngannou fans in Cameroon and around the world, their champion is unfairly belittled. And the symbolism, which consists in opposing "The Predator", from immigration, to the "Bon Gamin", Franco-French mestizo, escapes no one. If Ngannou had celebrated his title in Cameroon, in the sand mine where he worked, Gane celebrated his in La Roche-sur-Yon, in the west of France.
Dana White shows everyone her desire to conquer a French market: "With a perfect scenario, yes, we would go to France, and we would do that there", specifies the manitou of the martial arts while speaking of the future fight between Ngannou and Gane. For MMA commentator and Dana White's personal friend Joe Rogan, "It is immoral that the UFC creates a title to favor Gane when Ngannou is neither injured nor forfeited."
Is Africa disadvantaged? Certainly, and this is nothing new. The other two African middle and welterweight champions, Adesanya and Usman, have had to defend their respective titles three and four times. Holders of titles in other categories have defended their titles at most once during the same period (since September 2019).
Are Ngannou and his Nigerian counterparts unloved by the UFC? Either way, the meeting between Ngannou and Gane will be an intriguing fight. Cameroonian fans, for their part, will undoubtedly encourage "The Predator", who remains, because of his incredible physical power, "the most dangerous fighter in the world".