Ciryl Gane’s coach responds to ducking accusations from Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes

Ciryl Gane’s coach has responded to ducking accusations from heavyweight rivals Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes.

As we know, Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes will meet this weekend at UFC 304. The two will battle it out for the UFC interim heavyweight championship, a title formerly held by Ciryl Gane.

RELATED: Ciryl Gane hits back at Tom Aspinall’s “ducking” accusations

For the Frenchman, he’s rumored to be taking on Alexander Volkov later this year in a blockbuster rematch. In the midst of that, though, he’s been accused of ducking the two men competing on Saturday night.

In a recent interview, Gane’s head coach Fernand Lopez responded to the allegations.

Gane’s coach rejects ducking accusations

“The first and the only time that the UFC ever offered Tom Aspinall was for July (27),” Lopez told MMA Junkie. “Before that, people are messing up everything. Tom Aspinall is calling out Ciryl. When you call out someone, that doesn’t mean anything. Like Ciryl called out Tom Aspinall, and Tom Aspinall just said, ‘I don’t want you, I’m looking forward. I’m waiting for Jon Jones,’ which makes sense because you only look forward and try to have more money, more challenge.

“So, Jon Jones is the challenge for Tom Aspinall now. …If you get in the cage with Jon Jones, with Francis Ngannou, why should he be scared? I mean this is his job, but it’s only about timing, it’s only about the opportunity. No one gave me any offer for (Jailton) Almeida. No one gave me any offer for Curtis Blaydes. You can talk to Mick Maynard, Dana White, Hunter Campbell. No one gave any offer for Tom Aspinall before July (27), no one gave any offer for Curtis Blaydes. Never whatsoever. So people keep saying Ciryl is ducking, ducking. He’s not ducking anyone. If making a choice is ducking, then you don’t understand the game.”

“I asked Mick Maynard and Hunter to put Tom Aspinall for UFC 300,” Lopez explained. “But they couldn’t because Aspinall was expecting Jon Jones to accept the fight. I will not ever say Aspinall is ducking Ciryl. This guy is a monster, he’s a brave guy. But when Ciryl call him out, and he said no to Ciryl, it’s because he has a better offer. He’s expecting better. He wants for himself, for his family, for his legacy, he wants to fight Jon Jones which makes sense. I totally understand him. That’s the game. But that’s not honest for him to say Ciryl ducked him.

“Where is the proof of that? Who said that Ciryl said no to him? Ciryl never said no to him. He couldn’t fight and even when the UFC was asking, and I could show you the message. They were like, ‘We know that this is the frame of time that we gave you to do the movie, but still we are trying. Can you let down the movie and come do this?’ This is too much. Ciryl will get sued and go to court and pay tons of money to Netflix to stop that movie from going. The only offer for UFC 300 was Pavlovich and Pavlovich said no.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie

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