Ciryl Gane understands why UFC President Dana White could not have been delighted with the headline of the UFC Fight Night 186.
Gane (8-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) won a relatively eventless unanimous decision over Jairzinho Rozenstruik (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) in Saturday’s main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas . It was his first place in the head, and apparently White was not pleased with what he saw.
Although White did not attend the post-fight UFC Fight Night 186 press conference, he did convey some thoughts about Gane’s victory via Yahoo! Athlete Kevin Iole, who distributed the message directly to Gane.
“Everyone is talking about Ciryl as this great competitor, but look at what Francis Ngannou did to Jairzinho,” White wrote to Iole. “This was his exit party and his chance to show the world who he is. He won, but let’s leave that. He won.”
Gane said he understands White’s perspective, though he doesn’t take all the blame. Jon Anik, Michael Bisping and Paul Felder’s cage commentary team put a lot of heat on Rozenstruik, who scored only 42 significant shots in the 25 minutes, as opposed to 102 from Gane.
There was no climax or dramatic moment in the battle. And for that reason, Gane said he gets the reason White could have been overwhelmed.
“I can understand that,” Gane said. “He’s the boss and he wants to make money, so you want the marketable guy. People want the show. They want the big KO. So yes, I’m not finishing the fight. I tried, but I don’t. I can understand that (criticism), but I’m fine. ”
Leaving all that aside, Gane said he feels pretty positive about the win. He has just defeated a more experienced opponent in his first UFC major event to advance to 8-0 in his career and is pleased with the effort to get there.
“I think I did well,” Gane said. “I managed to fight on my feet. I tried to get down. I did the removal. I think I did a good fight on my feet. ”