Ciryl Gane Earmarks December, January For Heavyweight Title Unification Fight With Francis Ngannou

Mandatory Credit: Chris Unger - Zuffa LLC & Josh Hedges - Zuffa LLC

Recently-minted interim UFC heavyweight champion, Ciryl 'Bon Gamin' Gane has laid out a roadmap for his heavyweight title unification bout with former Factor MMA stablemate, Francis 'The Predator' Ngannou -- explaining how he hopes to meet his fellow titleholder before the end of this year or early next month -- ideally on home soil in France.

Headlining UFC 265 from the Toyota Centre in Houston, Texas -- French standout, Gane secured the interim heavyweight crown with a masterful striking performance against big-puncher, Derrick Lewis, before stopping the promotion's most prolific knockout artist at heavyweight with a barrage of ground strikes in the third round.

Dominating the fight from start to finish, Fernand Lopez product, Gane hardly put a foot wrong from the opening exchange, darting in with accurate hands and picking the lead leg of Lewis apart before the eventual finish against the fence in the third round.

Despite the contentious nature of the introduction of an interim title just less than five months after former teammate, Ngannou was minted the new undisputed heavyweight champion, Gane is now primed to meet with the Batie knockout artist in a title unification bout.

Speaking with BJPENN.com reporter, Cole Shelton recently, Gane outlined how he plans to take some time off as he and his wife prepare for the birth of their daughter, but hopes to meet with Ngannou within the next few months. 

"I'm going to rest a little bit because I started to prepare for camp in July of last year," Gane explained. "Since then, I have continued every week to prepare (for) a new fight, just fight-after-fight-after-fight. I just want to rest a little bit and I have my wife due soon with my daughter. It complicates training camp a little bit but maybe the end of this year or the beginning of 2022. If it's possible in France as well. For the first UFC event in Paris, France it will be a success for sure. It will be really great."

A December of January timeframe for Ngannou would come off the back of his undisputed title-clinching effort against former two-time division pacesetter, Stipe Miocic, whom the Cameroonian stopped with a thunderous second round knockout back in March at UFC 260 in the pair's title rematch.