Gan admitted that Ngannou shocked him with a left hi-kick, and explained why he did not continue to spar

French heavyweight Cyril Gan reacted to UFC champion Francis Ngannou’s claim that he knocked him out during a sparring match in Paris.

“The thing is, Francis doesn’t like easy, technical sparring. He hits very hard all the time. Yes, you threw that left hi-kick, you hit me. See, I’m being honest with you, but you didn’t knock me down,” Gun said at a joint pre-fight press conference at UFC 270.

“The fact that he knocked out is a lie. You heard that I told the truth. He threw a beautiful, very powerful left hi-kick, but I didn’t get knocked down, Gan continued. “I’ll tell you exactly what happened: he knocked me out, I didn’t expect such a powerful blow. Before that, I asked him not to invest so much. And I’m like, “[показывает удивленное выражение лица]. Okay, no problem.” I was ready to continue, but the coach said: “That’s enough, we’re done. It won’t lead to anything good.” So we stopped sparring. It’s true”.

The UFC 270 tournament, in the main event of which Gan will fight Ngannou, will take place on the night of January 23 in Anaheim (USA).