Ciryl Gane's coach Fernand Lopez shot back at Francis Ngannou's sparring footage claims by insisting 'it makes no sense'.
Ngannou, 35, and Gane, 31, were once training partners at MMA Factory in Paris.
But they soon went their separate ways after Lopez and 'The Predator' had a major falling out.
And now Ngannou - who beat Stipe Miocic last March - is set to defend the heavyweight belt against 'Bon Gamin' in the main event of UFC 270.
While the pair have remained fairly cordial towards each other, both camps have exchanged words over leaked sparring footage between the former teammates-turned-opponents.
Despite the fact they appear to be unedited to the naked eye, KO king Ngannou insisted the clips don't tell the full story.
Ngannou said via his YouTube channel: “It’s about to make him look better and make me look bad to prove that he’s the man.
"I really get intrigued by [that] stuff sometimes and then how they just control people’s mind, conditioning them to think – and suddenly they just shift from one way to other way of thinking.
"I’m like, how easy is that to manipulate people? They’re really good at manipulation. But at the end of the day, as I said, we both know. Everyone knows for a fact.”
But Lopez was quick to hit back at Ngannou's comments and suggested he should focus on something else.
The Ares FC founder told MMA Fighting: “I rolled my eyes, because it makes no sense.
WATCH: Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane sparring together at MMA Factory in Paris
Check out the video below...
“Let’s put it this way, let’s take the worst-case scenario: The UFC did manipulate the footage.
"Is it the wrong footage? Why are you concerned about that footage anyway? It’s the f------ footage.
"You are not [wearing] the four-ounce gloves, you are not trying to knock Ciryl Gane down.
“I recognise his power, Ciryl Gane recognises his power, the whole world recognises his power.
"They can see in the video that Francis didn’t use the full power to knock Ciryl Gane down, right? So, where is the manipulation?”
He also threatened to expose Ngannou by releasing the entire contents of the video to the public.
The Frenchman added: “You want me to tell you the truth on the video?
“The video ends up with Francis Ngannou sitting down in the corner of the gym because he [ate] the knee of Ciryl Gane in the liver. Knee on the body.
“He sat down. He was f------ exhausted, tired, took the knee, down.
"Ciryl went to him, ‘Brother come up, let’s go, let’s keep going, let’s keep training.’
"That’s what happened at the end of the video. If you think that there’s something special that you did in the video, please come on, talk.”
Ngannou is coming off a knockout win over Miocic while Gane also stopped Derrick Lewis inside the distance to win the vacant interim belt last summer.
The heavyweights meet at the Honda Center in Anaheim on January 22.
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