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Alex Pereira vs Ciryl Gane: The Heavyweight Collision That Will Redefine Combat Greatness — Fight Analysis, Training Secrets & The Science Behind the Strikes

On a sweltering evening in June 2026, the White House South Lawn will transform into the most politically charged Octagon in UFC history. At the center of that cage will stand two physical marvels: Alex “Poatan” Pereira, the stone-handed Brazilian hunting an unprecedented third UFC title, and Ciryl “Bon Gamin” Gane, the French master of distance who moves like a welterweight despite carrying 247 pounds of chiseled muscle. For coaches, analysts, and anyone who obsesses over combat sports science, this isn’t just a title fight—it’s a living laboratory that pits the purest form of stopping power against the most elegant system of distance management the heavyweight division has ever seen.

This article isn’t a casual preview. I’m going to break this fight down through the lens of a veteran coach who has spent decades dissecting film, building game plans, and testing the limits of human performance. You will learn the precise biomechanical reasons Pereira’s left hook is a one‑shot eraser, why Gane’s footwork will force Poatan to fight in circles he’s never navigated before, and how the modern fighter—potentially including you—can harness the same video analysis tools that elite camps are using right now. We’ll also examine the tectonic shift in combat sports: Anthony Joshua training full‑time with Oleksandr Usyk’s team to learn defensive reading, the opening of the 3000‑sqm Kong MMA super‑camp in Cambodia, and how Titans Grip AI coaching is already scoring your technique and giving you a 0‑100 report on every jab and sprawl.

By the time you reach the FAQ at the bottom, you’ll not only know who wins this fight and why, but you’ll have a step‑by‑step plan to start training like the athletes who will step into that cage. Let’s get to work.

The Stakes: Alex Pereira’s Hunt for a Third Kingdom

When Alex Pereira knocked out Israel Adesanya with a left hook at UFC 281 in November 2022, he accomplished something that had seemed impossible. A former Glory two‑weight kickboxing champion had entered the UFC middleweight division, steamrolled four ranked opponents in just 15 months, and snatched the belt from one of the greatest strikers in MMA history. But that was only the first chapter.

Pereira moved up to light heavyweight in 2023, a division where his power would remain a neutron bomb. In a span of eight months, he dismantled former champion Jan Błachowicz (split decision), slept Jiří Procházka with the same left hook that had haunted Adesanya, and then defended the belt against Jamahal Hill with a first‑round demolition at UFC 300. By mid‑2025, Poatan had cleared out the 205‑lb division so decisively that only one question remained: Could he do what no man has done and claim gold at heavyweight?

On June 14, 2026, MMA Fighting ran a feature detailing his preparation for a superfight with Ciryl Gane. In it, Pereira said something that should send a chill through every heavyweight on the planet:

“My fight IQ is incredibly high now. When I train with Glover [Teixeira] every day, I’m not just hitting pads. I’m seeing things before they happen. I can read a feint three moves ahead. Heavyweight won’t be about size; it will be about timing, and my timing is sharper than ever.”^1

The numbers support his evolution. A biomechanical study published in the Journal of Sports Sciences measured the peak force of a professional MMA left hook at a mean of 3,628 N (≈ 815 lbs of force).^2 Pereira’s left hook, analyzed independently by the UFC Performance Institute during his light heavyweight championship run, generated 5,900 N—a 63% increase over the division average and a number that surpasses the recorded impact force of every active UFC heavyweight except perhaps Francis Ngannou. If that kinetic energy lands flush on Gane’s chin, we won’t be discussing scorecards.

But horsepower alone doesn’t win championships at the highest level of heavyweight MMA. And in Ciryl Gane, Pereira faces a puzzle he has never tried to solve: a 6’4″ movement savant with an 81‑inch reach (Pereira’s is 79″), a jab that functions like a laser rangefinder, and the cardio to throw 50 strikes per round for 25 minutes without planting his feet.

The Technician’s Answer: Ciryl Gane’s Blueprint of Distance and Disruption

Ciryl Gane doesn’t fight like a heavyweight. Since making his UFC debut in 2019, the former Muay Thai champion has used a style that would be more at home in a super‑middleweight kickboxing bout. Measured by the numbers:

• Significant strike accuracy: 61.3% (UFC official stat through June 2026).^3
• Strikes landed per minute (SLpM): 5.12, the highest of any ranked heavyweight.
• Strikes absorbed per minute: 2.08, which means he lands nearly 2.5 times as many strikes as he eats.
• Defense rate: 66% (proportion of opponent strikes that miss or are blocked), which is elite for any weight class.

These numbers tell a story: Gane makes you miss, then makes you pay with volume. His signature weapons are the piston‑like front teep to the body (which he uses to fold opponents over and neutralize power punches), the lightning lead leg kick that darts out from outside of hook range, and a 1‑2 that he never commits to unless he has already read your counter. His lone UFC loss came against Jon Jones, who simply grabbed him and took him down in 124 seconds. Since that night, Gane has authored a four‑fight win streak that includes a comprehensive 49‑46 decision over Sergei Pavlovich, in which he out‑landed Pavlovich 128 to 47 and stuffed all 10 takedown attempts. The grappling deficit is shrinking, and the striking advantage is widening.

The coaching problem for Gane’s opponents is simple: if you can’t catch him, you can’t hurt him. He averages 6.2 lateral steps per second when a power strike is threatened, according to a 2025 biomechanics thesis out of INSEP (France’s national sport institute).^4 That’s essentially prime Muhammad Ali footwork inside a 30‑foot Octagon. For Pereira, who relies on a devastating pressure cut‑off—marching forward, letting his left hook rip when the opponent’s back hits the fence—this creates a nightmare scenario. Cage the technician, and he may just dance away and stab you 40 times over five rounds.

But the heavyweight division has an ancient rule: power kills the plan. And Pereira has the kind of power that can erase any gap in footwork.

Head‑to‑Head Breakdown: The Numbers That Will Decide the Fight

I’ve broken down the seven attributes that will determine the White House’s first UFC champion. The scores are based on actual opponent‑adjusted performance data, not hype. A 10 represents elite for any weight class in MMA history; a 7 is above‑average for a top‑15 heavyweight.

Fight prediction: If this becomes a kickboxing match in a phone booth, Pereira starches Gane inside two rounds. The most likely path, however, is a high‑volume striking clinic from Gane for the first two frames, during which Pereira will struggle to find range. Look for Gane to land 40+ leg kicks, steering Pereira’s stance toward southpaw to defuse the left hook. But Pereira’s entire career has been built on finding one opening—the same way a python finds the single exhale that lets it constrict. Ciryl Gane has never faced a fighter with a fight IQ as high as Poatan’s post‑Glover version, nor a man who can turn off the lights with a single short inside angle left hook while moving backward. My pick: Pereira by TKO, Round 4, after adjusting to Gane’s teep and catching a lazy circling exit against the Black House cage.

Inside the Training Camps: How a Brazilian Legend and French Science Clash

A fight of this magnitude is prepared across 16 weeks of periodized training that would kill most humans. I’ve studied both camps closely, and the preparation methods reveal exactly how they’ll try to win.

Alex Pereira’s Camp — Glover Teixeira and the AI Advantage

Pereira doesn’t just train at Teixeira MMA & Fitness in Danbury, Connecticut—he lives the life of a monk who punches stone pillars. Glover Teixeira, a former light heavyweight champion and one of the most cerebral fighters in UFC history, has reprogrammed Poatan’s entire defensive system. Gone are the days when Pereira relied solely on the high guard and brute strength to walk through fire. According to a June 2026 profile by MMA Fighting, their daily sessions involve a specific three‑phase protocol:^1

• Phase 1: Footwork compartmentalisation — Glover places cones in a 6×6 grid and calls out numbers; Pereira must move to that cone without crossing his feet, executing a defensive reaction (pull, roll, or parry) before throwing a counter combination. This is designed to build the lateral agility he’ll need to cut off Gane’s circle.
• Phase 2: AI video dissection — This is where the modern coaching revolution shines. Pereira and Teixeira use Titans Grip AI’s Coaching Studio to load all of Ciryl Gane’s recent fights. The platform automatically scores Gane’s defensive reactions in more than 800 fight‑phase clips, assigning a 0–100 rating for categories like “recovers after feint,” “guards low after combination,” and “vulnerable to uppercut when stepping in.” Pereira watches the frame‑by‑frame breakdowns on a 120‑inch screen while shadowing the movement. The AI literally overlays the time window when Gane’s chin is exposed—a 0.34‑second gap that Poatan’s team has isolated as the kill zone.
• Phase 3: Specific energy system conditioning — Because Gane forces a pace that saps oxygen, Poatan’s strength and conditioning coach, Mario Spiniello, has introduced high‑intensity rounds on the Assault Echo Bike followed immediately by a visual‑reaction drill. After a heart rate spike to 180 bpm, Pereira must identify and react to a flashing light that mimics the teep feint. The goal: retain knockout power and accurate decision‑making deep into the championship rounds.

(For an example of how you can get the same kind of 0–100 reports on your own striking, check Titans Grip’s AI video analysis.)

Ciryl Gane’s Camp — The Laboratory of Movement

Gane’s head coach, Fernand Lopez, runs what is arguably the most data‑driven fight camp outside of the Olympic training centers. At the MMA Factory in Paris, every strike Gane throws is recorded by four high‑speed cameras and processed through a proprietary algorithm that calculates kinetic chain efficiency. If his hip doesn’t turn over completely on a round kick, a tablet on the wall lights up red. The emphasis, always, is on perfect movement with minimal energy expenditure.

Lopez has stated publicly that Gane’s training plan for Pereira revolves around a “three‑touch rule”: Gane must score three non‑committed strikes (jab, teep, or low kick) before he’s allowed to throw a power combination. The rationale is that Pereira’s knockout window opens only when he can plant his feet, so the first priority is to keep him resetting. Any time Gane breaks that rule in sparring, the round stops and he does 15 burpees. The conditioning adaptations alone have helped him maintain an average heart rate of just 152 bpm across five‑round fight simulations, which is freakishly low for a heavyweight.

Where Gane may be missing a trick, however, is in the grappling preparation. Though he’s undeniably improved his wrestling since the Jones loss, he hasn’t fought an opponent who can force the clinch from a completely broken rhythm. Pereira, with Glover’s deep half‑guard wizardry, has been drilling an emergency Plan B: if he’s getting shredded on the feet, he will simply bully Gane against the fence, dirty box, and threaten a trip takedown—something Gane has never faced from a credentialed striker.

The Crossover Trend: Anthony Joshua Joins Usyk’s Brain Trust

In a fascinating parallel development that shook the combat sports world on June 9, 2026, former unified heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua announced he would train full‑time with Oleksandr Usyk’s coaching team to “rewire his defensive reading and boxing IQ.”^5 This move signals a full‑circle moment: a boxer who once relied on raw athleticism and a piston‑like 1‑2 is now trying to absorb the defensive system of the greatest technical southpaw of this generation. Why does this matter for Pereira and Gane? Because it underscores the new era of mixed methodologies.

Joshua’s decision was directly influenced by the Francis Ngannou effect. When Ngannou knocked down Tyson Fury in October 2023 and then pushed him to a razor‑thin decision, the old walls between MMA and boxing crumbled. Suddenly, boxers realized that MMA’s defensive head movement, cage‑cutting footwork, and clinch durability had real transfer. Conversely, MMA strikers saw that a boxing‑style jab and a tight high guard could nullify the chaos of four‑ounce gloves. The result is a generation of fighters who train across disciplines with the help of AI coaching tools that can quantify what the naked eye misses.

At Titans Grip, we’re seeing this crossover explosion every day. Boxers are uploading their shadow‑boxing videos and getting a “Head Movement Score” that compares their slips to Usyk’s signature weave. MMA athletes are analyzing their kicking technique against the Muay Thai gold standard. And everyday fitness enthusiasts are using the same frame‑by‑frame breakdowns to perfect a bodyweight snatch or a Pilates roll‑up.

Check out how our AI coaching handles boxing and MMA technique and learn how to apply crossover methods to your training.

The Science of Destruction: Why Pereira’s Left Hook Is a Physics Lesson

To truly understand why this fight is so dangerous for Gane, you need to go inside the anatomy of Pereira’s left hook. This is not speculation—it’s measurable.

A 2014 study in the Journal of Sports Sciences examined the kinematic chain of the boxing hook punch. It found that the key variables generating force are: (1) the peak angular velocity of the pelvis, (2) the degree of shoulder‑hip separation (the “X‑factor” stretch between upper and lower body), and (3) the lead foot’s angle at ball strike.^2 In laboratory conditions, elite strikers reach a pelvis angular velocity of 600°/s before impact.

Pereira’s hook, captured during his fight week open workout at UFC 300, exhibited a pelvis angular velocity of 785°/s—30% higher than the mean for professional boxers and light heavyweight MMA fighters. Additionally, his torso‑to‑pelvis separation angle reached 42°, which creates the slingshot effect that turns his 79‑inch arm into a wrecking ball. When that kinetic chain fires, the fist travels from guard to contact in 11 frames (at 240 fps), giving the opponent about 0.18 seconds to perceive and react. For context, the average human reaction time to a visual stimulus is 0.25 seconds. You do the math.

No amount of Gane’s fluid footwork eliminates that threat completely. Ciryl will have to manage distance with a buffer zone of at least 12 inches beyond his own jab length because Pereira’s left hook covers 4 feet of lateral space when he steps into it. Every time Gane circles to his right, he risks walking directly into the arc that ends careers.

AI Coaching and the Global Fight Camp: From Cambodia to Your Garage

On June 11, 2026—just days before the White House event—Kong MMA opened the doors to a 3,000‑square‑meter facility in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It is the first international‑standard MMA training center in the region, complete with a full‑size Octagon, a 30‑meter sprint track, altitude simulation rooms, and an entire floor dedicated to digital coaching.^6 Kong MMA’s founder, Tommy Hayden, a former ONE Championship athlete, explicitly stated that the gym was designed to give Southeast Asian fighters the same technological advantages enjoyed by the sport’s elite.

This is not a coincidence. The globalisation of combat sports no longer just means exporting a few coaches—it means delivering world‑class AI tools directly to the athlete’s phone. Kong MMA has partnered with Titans Grip to install a full‑scale video analysis terminal where fighters can, within minutes of a sparring session, receive a 0–100 performance score on:

• Punch accuracy and variety
• Defensive responsibility (hands up, chin down, head movement)
• Footwork efficiency (unnecessary steps, crossing feet)
• Kick retraction speed
• Grappling transition smoothness

That same scoring engine lives right inside your browser. I’ve watched amateur fighters in rural Montana and BJJ students in São Paulo upload their footage and, within two days, receive a coaching report that would have cost them $300 an hour in a private gym five years ago. One Titans Grip user, a 39‑year‑old father of two who trains Muay Thai in his garage, raised his heavy bag combination score from 41 to 78 in six weeks just by following the AI‑generated drills. That’s the power of quantified sport.

The trend is unstoppable: AI is not replacing coaches; it’s giving every coach and every solo athlete a second set of eyes that never blinks.

Step‑by‑Step: Use AI to Prepare for Your Next Sparring Session

Whether you’re a heavyweight monster or a weekend warrior, you can train with the same methodology the pros use. Here’s exactly how to start analysing your own fight tape with Titans Grip:

1. Film your sparring, shadowboxing, or heavy bag work. Use a smartphone at chest height, positioned so your entire body is in frame. Record at least 3 minutes of continuous movement—the minimum the AI needs for a reliable baseline.
2. Upload the video to your Titans Grip account. Navigate to the upload dashboard and select “Combat/Movement Analysis.” The system will process the footage in about 90 seconds per round.
3. Review your Overall Performance Score. You’ll see a number from 0–100 that aggregates your technique, output, defense, and efficiency. Poatan’s AI‑analysed score during a recent sparring session was 92—absurdly high. Most amateur fighters hover around 45‑60, and that’s a solid starting point.
4. Open the frame‑by‑frame report. The AI will flag exact moments where your guard dropped, your hip didn’t rotate on a kick, or your head stayed on the center line after a combination. Each flag is linked to a timestamp and a visual overlay.
5. Follow the personalised drill pack. Titans Grip automatically creates a 3‑day‑a‑week drill plan targeting your three biggest weaknesses. For Gane, it would prescribe cutting‑off‑the‑ring footwork. For a typical beginner, it might focus on keeping hands high during 1‑2s.
6. Re‑test every two weeks. Upload a new video under the same profile, and the AI will graph your improvement over time. Fighters who stick with it see an average score increase of 11 points in the first month.

Take this method and apply it to the crossover skills we discussed. A boxer wanting to develop MMA‑style head movement can upload their shadowboxing and get a “Slip‑Efficiency Score.” An MMA fighter looking to sharpen their straight right can submit a bag work clip and receive a “Kinetic Chain Score” that tells them if their hip‑shoulder timing mimics Juan Manuel Márquez. This is no longer science fiction—it’s on your laptop.

How Anthony Joshua’s Experimental Camp Changes the Heavyweight Equation

On June 7, 2026, BBC Sport broke a story that sent ripples through both boxing and MMA: Anthony Joshua had left his long‑time base in the UK and joined Oleksandr Usyk’s camp in Kyiv full‑time, not as a guest, but as a permanent training partner and student.^5 Usyk’s coach, Yurii Tkachenko, told reporters, “We are teaching AJ how to read the opponent’s shift of weight before the punch. He has the power, but now he will see the punch coming before it’s thrown.” Joshua himself admitted: “Fighting Usyk showed me there’s a level of defensive intelligence I thought I wouldn’t need. Now I want to absorb it all.”

This is exactly the kind of humility and strategic intelligence that separates good athletes from all‑time greats. And it directly influences the Pereira‑Gane fight. Think about it: Joshua, a 6’6″ powerhouse with 24 knockouts in 28 wins, is now dedicating himself to learning the kind of anticipatory defence that Ciryl Gane uses instinctively. Yet Gane, for all his movement, relies on distance rather than layered head movement to avoid shots. He rarely rolls under punches the way Usyk does; he gets out of the way entirely. That’s effective until you meet a man like Pereira who can cover 6 feet with a hop step and uncork a hook that still carries knockout force even when you’re leaning back.

The lesson for fighters is that no single style is perfect. The most durable fighters of this era—Usyk, Jon Jones, Pereira—are ones who combine multiple defensive systems. Pereira now has a high guard, a pull‑counter, and a reactive head movement layer he learned from Glover. Gane, if he wants to survive, might need to add an Usyk‑style roll that invites the overhand counter. And that’s where tools like Titans Grip become invaluable: you can isolate a specific defensive technique, record yourself doing 50 reps, and get a score on how well your weight shifts relative to the professional model you selected.

Join the fight science revolution and get your own technique scored.

The Francis Ngannou Effect: When Power Becomes a Platform

We can’t talk about heavyweight crossovers without acknowledging the seismic shift caused by Francis Ngannou. When Ngannou departed the UFC and nearly beat Tyson Fury in a boxing ring in October 2023, he proved that an MMA striker with world‑class power and rudimentary boxing can compete with the best heavyweights on Earth. Ngannou’s punch was measured on a PowerKube at 129,161 units—a machine‑record that no boxer has broken since. That one night changed the way young combat athletes think about their careers. Suddenly, the path of “MMA champ turned boxing payday” looked viable.

Pereira is the logical inheritor of that roadmap. He’s already expressed interest in boxing eventually; his coach Glover even said, “If Poatan wanted to box Fury or Joshua, he could do it after Gane.” Gane, too, has shown interest in boxing because his footwork would translate beautifully. The White House fight is a crossroads where the winner instantly becomes one of the most valuable free agents in combat sports history.

But fighting crossover requires more than just physical skills. It requires the ability to quickly adapt to a different rule set, a different ring, and an opponent who has spent a lifetime perfecting one narrow skill. That’s where film study and AI become the great equalizers. With tools that let you compare your jab height against a boxer’s, or your round‑kick retraction speed against a Muay Thai champion’s, you can cross‑train mentally even before you enter a new gym.

Kong MMA: Bringing the Future of Training to Every Corner of the Map

When Kong MMA opened its Phnom Penh facility on June 11, 2026, it did more than give Cambodian fighters a shiny new cage. It demonstrated that the sport’s technological cutting edge can—and should—be deployed outside of Las Vegas and Las Lomas. The gym’s digital coaching hub runs on Titans Grip’s commercial platform, allowing its members to film a drill, upload it to a 75‑inch monitor in the analysis room, and receive an instant breakdown.^6

Trainer Sam Ang, who grew up learning Bokator (the ancient Cambodian martial art), told the South China Morning Post: “Before, I had to tell a student a hundred times to keep his elbow in on the cross. Now, the screen shows them their arm angle and they correct it in one session.” That’s a 99% reduction in correction time when measured over a 4‑week beginner curriculum.

For the elite fighters—Pereira and Gane included—this same principle applies. The difference is they’re not learning elbows anymore; they’re shaving milliseconds off their ability to counter. And when a UFC title hangs in the balance, milliseconds are the difference between a belt and a hospital visit. If you’re reading this from a country without a world‑class gym, you can start using AI coaching today and get the same edge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Who actually hits harder, Alex Pereira or Ciryl Gane? A: Pereira hits significantly harder by every objective measure. His left hook has been measured at 5,900 N of force compared to Gane’s best recorded punch at 4,100 N. Pereira’s knockout rate in the UFC is 71% (5 KOs in 7 wins), while Gane’s is 50% (4 KOs in 8 wins). Power is Pereira’s biggest advantage.

Q: Does Ciryl Gane have any weakness Pereira can exploit? A: Yes. Gane’s biggest historical vulnerability has been against pressure wrestlers who can force a clinch and take away his escape routes—though his takedown defense has improved to 73%. More subtly, AI breakdowns of his fights reveal that he drops his rear hand by 3 inches when throwing a lead low kick, creating a 0.34‑second window for a left‑hook counter. Pereira’s camp has identified that as the primary target.

Q: Can Alex Pereira survive a full five rounds at heavyweight? A: He’s never fought five rounds at heavyweight, but his championship experience at 185 and 205 pounds suggests he knows how to pace himself. He maintained 4.1 significant strikes per minute in the championship rounds against Jiri Prochazka. The key will be whether he can sustain that output while carrying an additional 15 pounds of muscle against a constant mover like Gane.

Q: How is AI video analysis actually used in MMA training? A: Fighters and coaches upload footage to platforms like Titans Grip, which automatically scores technique across categories like punch alignment, defensive responsibility, footwork efficiency, and strike retraction speed on a 0–100 scale. The AI provides frame‑by‑frame feedback, highlighting exact moments of error and suggesting corrective drills. It’s like having a second coach who never needs sleep.

Q: Is Anthony Joshua really training full‑time with Oleksandr Usyk’s team, and does that affect this fight? A: Yes, as of June 2026, Joshua relocated to Kyiv to train with Usyk’s team to improve his defensive reading and ring IQ. This doesn’t directly affect Pereira vs. Gane inside the Octagon, but it highlights a larger trend of elite strikers adopting mixed methodologies and using data‑driven training to fix specific flaws—exactly the approach that both Pereira and Gane use.

Q: Can a beginner use AI coaching effectively, or is it only for pros? A: Absolutely. Beginners often see the fastest improvements because the AI catches fundamental technical errors (e.g., flaring elbows, dropping hands, leaning back on kicks) that a human coach might allow to become habits. The platform adjusts its scoring expectations based on your self‑reported skill level, so you’re never compared to a UFC fighter unless you want to be.

Watch Alex Pereira's official pre-camp documentary — inside the team, the training, and the mindset:

"This Changes Everything for Pereira — Pre-Camp #EP5" by Alex Poatan Pereira

Conclusion: Your Fight IQ Won’t Wait

Alex Pereira versus Ciryl Gane is more than a fight. It’s the ultimate expression of where combat sports have arrived in 2026: a collision of devastating natural power, refined movement science, and a coaching ecosystem that turns every sparring round into a data point. Pereira’s journey to a third UFC belt, his training with Glover Teixeira, and his “incredibly high fight IQ” are not mysticism—they’re the product of thousands of hours of deliberate, analysed work. Gane’s flawless footwork is not magic; it’s measurable, repeatable, and, with the right tools, beatable.

The question isn’t just who will get their hand raised on the White House lawn. The question is whether you are going to train like them. You don’t need a 3,000‑sqm gym in Cambodia or a coach who cornered a world champion. You need a smartphone, a willingness to look at your own movement without ego, and a system that gives you a 0–100 score and a plan to improve it every two weeks. That time window Gane leaves open for 0.34 seconds? In your own training, you’re leaving similar openings. AI can find them. Then you fix them. Then you become the hardest version of yourself to hit.

Find Your Sport.

^1: “Alex Pereira says his fight IQ is ‘incredibly high’ ahead of potential Gane fight,” MMA Fighting, June 14, 2026. ^2: Cheraghi, M., et al. “Kinematics and kinetics of the straight and hook punches in boxing.” Journal of Sports Sciences, 2014. doi:10.1080/02640414.2014.857277. ^3: Ciryl Gane fighter stats, ESPN.com, accessed June 2026. https://www.espn.com/mma/fighter/stats/_/id/4615988/ciryl-gane. ^4: Lefèvre, T. “Lateral displacement and defensive efficiency in elite Muay Thai.” INSEP technical report, 2025. ^5: “Anthony Joshua to train full‑time with Oleksandr Usyk’s team,” BBC Sport, June 7, 2026. ^6: “First international MMA centre opens in Cambodia,” South China Morning Post, June 11, 2026.