FRANCIS NGANO claimed that he accidentally knocked Ciryl Gane out when they were sparring partners.
Ngannou, a former team-mate Gane, defends his UFC 270 heavyweight title.
Their relationship fell apart after the Cameroonian champion quit MMA Factory in Paris to open a camp in America in 2018.
The former friends, now rivals, are close to settling the score at the octagon.
Ngannou claimed that Gane already has his number after he had knocked him out sparringly.
At the UFC 270 press conference, he said: "Yes. I knocked him out. It was a high kick.
"That knockout was not voluntary. It was sparring. It was an accident. It was an accident.
"I didn’t go there to knock him off. It's not something I am proud of.
Free Bets: Get more than PS2,000 in NEW CUSTOMER DEALS"I don’t feel tough just because I knocked out my sparring partner or whatever.
"Usually, stuff like this happens during training, but it's an accident because our commitment to taking care of our partners makes it less likely."
Ngannou was once coached by Fernand Lopez, Gane's former head trainer. However, the two are now embroiled in a dispute in recent years.
Lopez said earlier in January that Gane, 31-year-old, dropped Ngannou (35-years old) with a body shot during an unreleased sparring match.
LowKick MMA was told by the coach that he didn't want to release all footage. This is because Francis Ngannou, a student in that training, had taken a knee shot directly to his liver and was dropped.
"I stopped the entire training. These are facts. Francis was lying on his backside. If he says otherwise, I will release the entire footage.
"But, my content manager refused to release it because there is a privacy issue in the gym. Guys train in your gym and expect that things will stay there.
Ngannou was trained by Eric Nicksick in Las Vegas in recent fights, but he briefly returned to MMA Factory in 2019.
He shared the gym with Gane but claimed it was for a brief time, denigrating the possibility of them ever becoming friends.
Ngannou stated that "We only spent a few sessions within three weeks." It was six sessions of training.
"That was January 2019, after I fought Curtis Blaydes, in China. I then went back to Cameroon for the Cain Velasquez fight on Christmas.
"So, I couldn’t return to Vegas in the time necessary to set up a training center because the fight was on February 17.
"I stopped in France to train for a month, and Ciryl was there at that time training for his fight.
"So, he fled even before I left. It was probably three weeks before I went to his fight.
"So, after that, I believe it was February 3, I flew to Phoenix. I was there two week before my fight and that's all."
Francis Ngannou before his fight against Ciryl Gane
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