Ciryl Gane Claims UFC Interim Heavyweight Title Over Derrick Lewis With Third-Round TKO
On Saturday, UFC 265 took place in Houston, Texas, featuring the headlining event of Big Bad Boys clash between Derrick “The Black Beast” Lewis and undefeated Frenchman Ciryl Gane.
What was supposed to be a hometown advantage for Lewis turned into a historic victory for Gane. The French fighter won in the third round via KO/TKO for the UFC interim heavyweight title.
Gane became the first-ever French champion of the UFC.
Lewis was waiting for his one-punch time as he usually does during the fight, so he was very passive. On the other hand, Gane was not taking any risks at the beginning of the battle, and he was earning some points via leg kicks and jabs.
Gane won the first two rounds easily since he landed many good low kicks and jabs, while Lewis landed only three significant strikes during 10 minutes of the fight.
In the third round, Lewis was hurt by Gane. French felt the smell of blood, exchanged some bombs with the Black Beast, and finished the fight.
#HeIsOk pic.twitter.com/GGTVlkfmda
— Ciryl Gane (@ciryl_gane) August 8, 2021
As Gane said, he felt no pressure. Lewis was appealed for eye poke few times during the fight, and he looked very disappointed after the stoppage.
Gane extends his winning streak to 10-0 with a 7-0 record in the UFC, making him only the fourth heavyweight to do that. Despite not notching a KO/TKO Saturday, Lewis (25-8, 1 NC) still holds the most KO/TKO victories in UFC heavyweight history (12).
In the co-main event, fans witnessed phenomenal performance by Jose Aldo. He defeated Pedro Munhoz via unanimous decision. Aldo used lots of low kicks and ripped his rival’s body like he was used to in the featherweight division a long time ago.
Vicente Luque defeated Michael Chiesa in the first round. After Michael went for an impressive takedown, he had an opportunity of finishing the fight early. Chiesa had Luque’s back and was trying, rear-naked Choke and neck crack several times. Finally, Luque expert escaped for that position, took his rival’s neck, and finished him via submission brabo choke.
Bookmakers gave equal odds to the fighters before the fight; from their point of view, Luque was a favorite in the standing, and Chiesa had to win this fight on the ground, but Brazilian fighter defeated Chiesa on his battlefield.
Rafael Fiziev and Bobby Green showed us the beauty of MMA, once again.
Fiziev defeated Green via unanimous decision, but fans are still arguing a lot about the judge’s scorecard. In the first two rounds, Fiziev dominated and landed more powerful shots, but in the third round, Green landed twice more (74) than Fiziev (30).
Still, such a close fight can’t be called robbery, and both fighters deserved respect and FONT bonuses.