As the antagonist in Jon Jones’ long-awaited comeback, and with the added significance of a world title on the line, Ciryl Gane might just be feeling the strain.
Far from it, as it happens.
“Not too much pressure,” Gane tells The National a few days from this weekend’s headline heavyweight bout at UFC 285 in Las Vegas. “More pressure than normal because it’s a big fight … because all of this.”
“All of this” references the highly anticipated return of Jones, the former long-time light heavyweight champion who competes in his first UFC fight in more than three years.
The American, who holds myriad records within the promotion such as youngest champion (23 years, eight months) and most title-fight wins (14), is considered by many the greatest MMA athlete of all-time.
Jones, now 35, has been beaten once in a 28-fight professional career (one was a No Contest). Consequently, he boasts the longest unbeaten streak in UFC history, at 18 bouts.
For extra intrigue, at T-Mobile Arena on early Sunday morning UAE, Jones will debut at heavyweight, where he will battle for the belt vacated in January by free agent Francis Ngannou. Win, and Jones becomes only the eighth two-division champion in UFC history.
So the pressure should really be pinching – for both combatants.
“It’s going to be a new Jon Jones, a new division, but he’s still going to be really sharp, really fast, with a high level,” Gane says. “So we did a camp on Jon Jones like he was before, but with more prime. That’s it. We’re expecting this.
“And apart from that, I’ve no pressure because I’m still confident. I’m going to have a pressure, but the good stress you see when you’re to jump in the cage. Like every time."
In Gane's mind at least, Jones has more weighing on him.
“I started MMA five years ago; the pressure is maybe not on my shoulders. It’s maybe more on him, because he must prove [himself]," he says. "Because he knows the situation, that he’s going to be more uncomfortable.
“I’m about the fight; how can I beat my opponent? That’s it. So that’s why this doesn’t put me in more pressure. I’m really focused on the guy in front of me.”
Gane, who excelled initially in Muay Thai, may have started MMA in 2018, but he has packed in a lot already. It took him only three years to race to a 10-0 record, the last bout in that stretch securing the UFC’s interim heavyweight belt.
Gane suffered his sole pro defeat in the next outing, losing the undisputed clash against Ngannou by unanimous decision at UFC 270 in January last year. Rendered redundant for the majority, he was smothered by the imposing Cameroonian.
Yet Gane rebounded last September with a display of mettle and might at the top of the bill on the UFC’s first event in France, the dynamic heavyweight’s homeland. There, he defeated the surging Tai Tuivasa by third-round knockout.
On Sunday, Gane says, the experiences of UFC 270 and UFC Paris will serve him well.
“Of course,” he offers. “This is going to help me for sure. I’m young in my career, but I’m known as a veteran. People talk about me like I’m here from a long time.
“My first fight in the UFC was 2019, and there was one year break because of the [Covid-19 pandemic]. But we did a lot at the top already. This has handed me more experience, for sure. The fight in Paris, the fight with Francis, all my main events, are going to help me with this.”
Gane, 32, says the main feeling this week is pride, pride in having achieved so much in a short space of time. Pride in that it has led him to Jones and a second shot at undisputed UFC gold.
While Jones has not competed since his contentious decision victory against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 in February 2020, Gane has fought six times between now and then.
How Jones performs following his lengthy lay-off – much of which was self-imposed, with personal issues and a pay dispute with UFC – provides one of the principal plotlines heading into UFC 285.
Will he be affected adversely by the break?
“I think he tried to do a lot of sparring to balance this,” Gane says. “We like to say in my gym that it’s very important to do sparring because sparring looks like a little fight.
“So even if you don’t fight for one or two years, or three, if you do some big sparring, this is an experience. So I don’t put this on my mind.
“But, yes, it’s not exactly the same as when you’re in the real competition, of course. It’s always better to be, not in a rush, but to have some activities. Maybe it is going to an advantage for me on this.”
Although, given Jones’ credentials, Gane is taking nothing for granted.
“We know he has a really good wrestling game,” he says. “I’ve got good striking. So I’m thinking he doesn’t want to spend a lot of time on his feet; he wants for sure to go to the ground game. So we did a lot during the camp about that.
“And after that we’ll see. I can’t say it’s going to be like that, or like that. We will see how he’s going to do … how I’m going to do also.”
Jones has been increasingly vocal in the build-up, primarily on social media. Last week, he suggested Gane was being overhyped for the fight, questioning the Frenchman's kickboxing and ground game, even the opponents he has faced thus far in the octagon.
Again, though, Gane doesn’t seem particularly perplexed.
“I don’t have a really good answer for him,” he says. “Just the people who look at my fights on the striking game know I have good striking game. I did well against some guys who really, really dangerous in striking, so I think I proved it.
“If he doesn’t want to say that, no problem.”
Gane finishes that sentence with a huge laugh, reinforcing that the pressure is not consuming him this week, after all. However, he is aware of what is at stake: it is not simply the heavyweight belt that serves as motivation, but the reputation of the man standing across the cage.
“This is a title,” Gane says. “This looks like a title. You have the belt, but you have also this title. Because a lot of people talk about this guy as a GOAT [Greatest Of All Time], all the stuff like that.
“So, this is going to put something really beautiful on my CV. For sure, it’s something big.”
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
If you go...
Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Dhadak
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana
Stars: 3
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Sour%20Grapes
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
ASHES SCHEDULE
First Test
November 23-27 (The Gabba, Brisbane)
Second Test
December 2-6 (Adelaide Oval, Adelaide)
Third Test
December 14-18 (Waca Ground, Perth)
Fourth Test
December 26-30 (Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne)
Fifth Test
January 4-8, 2018 (Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney)
The%20National%20selections
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Paris Can Wait
Dir: Eleanor Coppola
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Diane Lane, Arnaud Viard
Two stars
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Company%20profile
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Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Sunday:
GP3 race: 12:10pm
Formula 2 race: 1:35pm
Formula 1 race: 5:10pm
Performance: Guns N' Roses
Match info
Uefa Nations League Group B:
England v Spain, Saturday, 11.45pm (UAE)
