Fernand Lopez says he warned Ciryl Gane that Francis Ngannou’s alleged knee injury could be “bait” ahead of UFC 270

Francis Ngannou squared off with Ciryl Gane last Saturday at UFC 270 in Anaheim, California.

The headliner event between the two resulted in Ngannou retaining the heavyweight belt. It was Ngannous’ sixth win in a row and Ganes’ first career loss.

The two have a history as they were both coached by Fernand Lopez at the MMA Factory in Paris, France. However, Francis Ngannou and Fernand Lopez had a messy falling out and ‘The Predator’ is now making his training home at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.

PhotoCred: MMAnytt

Fernand Lopez, 43, a former Cameroonian mixed martial artist and current MMA coach to Ciryl Gane spoke with Ariel Helwani on ‘The MMA Hour’ about warning Ciryl Gane not to target Ngannou’s knees at UFC 270:

“When Francis get inside the octagon, and I saw the two knee wrappers, I called Ciryl to come close to me. And I said to Ciryl, ‘Don’t fall to the bait. Don’t go there for the low kick. He will counter you. And don’t believe that Francis is hurt. Don’t go there. Don’t kick him, or low kick; he will counter you.’ That’s what I said to him.”

Lopez continued (h/t Sportskeeda):

“On my point of view, the way that the information of Francis getting hurt was leaked just few hours before the fight, I thought that was a bait. One hundred percent. And I told that to Ciryl, ‘Don’t go kick a blank low kick. You will get knocked out by Francis. Don’t kick down. Stay on the kick that we’re using.’”

Prior to the fight Lopez advised he had no first hand knowledge of Ngannou’s knee injury and thought Ciryl was walking into a trap.

As it turns out the legitimacy of the knee injury was very real as Ngannou later revealed he had suffered a torn MCL and damaged ACL during training sessions prior to heading into UFC 270. It was further revealed that knee surgery will be necessary which will require a 9 to 10 month recovery period.

As to whether or not the feud between Lopez and Ngannou is over, Fernand went on to say:

“I shook his hand. We spent like five seconds or maybe four seconds looking each other in the eye when we shook hands. But I talked for maybe five minutes with Marquel [Martin], Francis’ manager… when Ciryl was in the medical check. And I talked also with, I hugged very sincerely Eric Nicksick… Also when I shook Kamaru Usman’s hand, he said to me, ‘Fernand, we’re brothers. Let’s stop this. Let’s move on.'”

What is your opinion of Fernand Lopez thinking the two knee wrappers were bait? Do you think his advice to Gane had any impact on the final results of the fight? Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!