A UFC star has addressed a viral moment during which he was eye-up by a popular ring girl.
Ciryl Gane has laughed off the incident, which saw him scoped out by Arianny Celeste during his last weigh-in.
Fans noticed that Gane and Celeste appeared to lock eyes for a short moment after 'Bon Gamin' weighed in for his heavyweight title fight against Francis Ngannou at UFC 270 in January.
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The exchange has since went viral on social media, racking up millions of views on YouTube.
Gane has now responded to the incident, saying he's aware of the attention it received, insisting that he was looking at one of his coaches and not Celeste.
He told Mirror Fighting: "I didn't see it [as that] because you see me turn [around] but it was for my coach, not the ring girl. That's why it makes the video a little bit funny, because when you look at it you think I look at the girl and she looks at me, but no. I don't know if my wife saw it, but it's OK."
It's not the first time Celeste has gone viral for scoping out a fighter during a weigh-in. Back at UFC 141 over a decade ago, Celeste was shocked by the physique of Alistair Overeem when he stepped on the scale to fight Brock Lesnar. Celeste has been one of the UFC's longest serving ring-girls, joining the promotion in 2006.
Celeste wasn't on the stage for Gane's latest weigh-in as the Frenchman looks to bounce back to winning ways when he fights Tai Tuivasa at UFC Paris tonight. It is the promotion's first-ever event in France following a decade-long push to legalise MMA in the country. Gane is heavily favoured to beat the knockout artist Tuivasa, who is on a three-fight unbeaten run, but he is by no means taking him lightly.
“Tai Tuivasa is on a good run in his last fights," Gane added. "He has knocked out every guy in his last three fights and that’s why I say he’s very dangerous. Against Derrick [Lewis] and Greg Hardy, he got hurt then came back and countered them. These are big guys and he can finish those big guys. It’s going to be a really tough fight and I have to be focused until the end."
“Every time I win my fights, it looks easy but it’s not easy," . "It’s because I did a really great job and exactly what I should have done to make the fight look easy. Against Tai it’s possible to do the same, but it’s not easy as the fight stays dangerous. With a guy like Tai Tuivasa, just one punch and he can finish you."
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