UFC Paris Aftermath: Ciryl Gane’s Perfect Footwork

Ciryl Gane capped off a near perfect night for the French faithful on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 226 as he knocked out Sergey Spivak in Round No. 2. Gane showed that he’s not the type of fighter that’s going to be wrestled to be beaten and that it’s going to take a special athlete to defeat him. He coasted to a spectacular victory to cap off “UFC Paris” and set himself up for good things in the future. In today’s Aftermath column, we will be looking at the footwork of “Bon Gamin” and how he uses his unique skills to stay out of trouble against a wrestler.

Foundational Footwork for Success

Everyone knew that Gane is a special talent as a striker. After going 1-2 in his last three, with wrestling being his Achilles’ heel, Spivak was a special type of trap fight that was both winnable for Gane and one that could end in disaster. He was given the opportunity to show that a fighter like Spivak can beat him or if he’s just allergic to wrestling. Instead of Gane’s allergies, it was Spivak’s that were on display. The key to Bon Gamin’s performance at “UFC Paris” was the body work. From the very jump, Gane attacked the body of his opponent and Spivak just wilted under the assault. It seemed as if near the end, Spivak had a broken rib protruding from his side and the MMA Factory fighter went there without remorse.

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But the body attack was only one part of the winning formula for the 33-year-old. As we discussed in UFC Paris Beforemath, Gane utilized the push kick, a step-up low kick, the intercepting knee and sound footwork to keep Spivak from being able to get into a clinch situation. The step up outside low kick was especially effective because it didn’t allow Spivak to grab Gane and also let the Frenchman cross step back and escape from forward pressure.

To start our first diagram, let’s establish the stance. Gane will fight out of southpaw or orthodox but spent a lot of this fight in southpaw just to smash the lead leg with the step-up low kick. Above, we see (1) Gane in that stance. He will (2) bring that rear foot forward and smash the thigh of Spivak, something a bit bolder to do against someone who is desperate to grab your leg to get you to the ground. Spivak thinks he has Gane on one leg and can blitz to land and clinch up. To get away, Gane will (3) bring that front foot he kicked with back and switch to orthodox. This allows him to exit to the rear and to safety. The reason this stance switch works so well is because of the natural mechanics of the outside low kick. As that front foot moves back, Gane can put it down back into the original stance, southpaw in this case, or he can bring it behind his former rear foot. The pivot back brings the body back and creates space which requires the opponent to move further to grab the body. This allows a fighter like Gane a bit more time to get out of the pocket.

As the fight went on, Spivak became more and more frustrated and started headhunting. Gane wouldn’t let that change how he fought, however.

(1) Again, Gane is in southpaw to Spivak’s orthodox. As Spivak is looking to throw and enter a clinch, (2) Gane will duck under the left hook coming his way. (3) Spivak wants to clinch up and Gane will want to exit. This time, he will (4) exit, but this time on an angle. This allows Gane that space previously mentioned. When Spivak did manage to get close and grab onto Gane, the Frenchman did manage to toss his hips back, sprawl, and stay out of danger.

(1) Establishing a base, we are in another mirrored stance. Gane will (2) feint with his hips with a slight tweak and Spivak thinks Gane is actually kicking. He will (3) duck in and look to grab Gane. Gane picks this up and (4) tosses his hips back and shucks off Spivak, denying the takedown attempt. The trick to this is the pivot out while Gane throws his hips back. Spivak, who is trying to drive through Gane, is forced to resort to chasing Gane as he’s retreating away and around his lead leg. This gives Gane the advantage in space he needs to shuck off Spivak. All in all, Ciryl Gane showed that it’s going to take a bit more than just wrestling to beat him. Dragging him down is going to take an incredibly strong fighter like Francis N’Gannou or a wrestling mastermind like Jon Jones to take him down. And if a fighter cannot get Gane to the ground, they are pretty much dead in the water.

Shooting fish in a barrel

There’s not a better striker in the heavyweight division than Ciryl Gane. His kickboxing pedigree has served him well in his meteoric run through an aging heavyweight division and got him to the title twice. Because of all the smart defensive moves by Gane, he was free to pick apart Spivak on his terms for the most part. Just a week ago we saw Max Holloway using his southpaw stance to step out to the side and line up his left hand for some damage. Gane used a similar approach against Spivak, betting on him struggling with the southpaw stance and land some blows. Consistently Gane gained the outside foot advantage and picked Spivak apart with the escape alley being the pivot out and retreat at an angle.

The outside advantage is not a hard and fast rule in MMA or boxing. But Gane places his bets on knowing his tools in any given stance better than his opponent. The only person who never had trouble with that was Jon Jones who ran through him. Spivak, alternatively, did not know what to do when someone stepped to the outside and Gane’s bet paid off.

(1) For the last time, southpaw versus orthodox, and Gane is the southpaw. Feinting, (2) Spivak expects a shot up top and covers up. Gane will use this moment to (3) step around Gane to the outside and Spivak doesn’t turn into him. (4) Gane will use this created position to land to the body. And this was the story of the entire night. Gane would step to the outside, punch the body, and Spivak would reset. Occasionally we’d see Gane land a knee or fight the hands. But the theme of the night was Gane in his element, landing at range, and denying the clinch. While he won’t get the chance to fight for the title anytime soon unless Jones retires, as is rumored after his main event at UFC 295. The only thing he can do is go out there and fight Tom Aspinall or Sergei Pavlovich. Let’s see how Jones vs. Miocic goes and then we can see where Gane sits for his title hopes.