“I respect Cyril Gan, this is true, but I studied the records of his fights and saw a lot of patterns,” the American said at a pre-match press conference. “He does certain things when he is in one stance and he has a set of actions for another stance. He repeats this over and over. Besides, he doesn’t fight very well.”
“He tries to evade, run away from the fight, and relies on jiu-jitsu instead of reliable defense against takedowns. The same thing happens in the stalls. I’ve seen Francis Ngannou hold him for five or six minutes from the top, and Francis is not a guy who is known for being in control of this position. Cyril is good on the stand, but as a kickboxer he doesn’t work very well defensively. He is good offensively but his defense is heavily dependent on footwork and the other two big holes in his game are Jiu-Jitsu and wrestling.”
“His footwork is rare for a heavyweight, but he can’t move like that throughout the fight. First, second round, partly third, he moves more than the average heavyweight, but I saw on the records that by the championship rounds his agility is on the wane. The defense of most heavyweights depends on how they block punches and kicks. Cyril prefers to simply retreat, this is his feature. Everything else in his arsenal is familiar to me – this is what I have already encountered.
According to Gan, he is ready for everything that the eminent rival can offer him.
“Everyone knows Jon Jones’ level of wrestling and we’ve been working on it, so I’ll be ready,” the Frenchman replied. “Actually, I’m more focused on my performance than what he’s going to do. I want to prove myself in a cage against one of the greatest fighters of all time, and this is a big test for me. Perhaps this is the biggest test of my life, and I’m ready for it.