Derrick Lewis vs. Ciryl Gane to crown the new interim heavyweight champion exceeded expectations.
The two fighters met in a bout on Saturday night (August 7, 2021) at the UFC 265 pay-per-view event from Houston, Texas at the Toyota Center. It was a slow start with both guys feeling it out. Gane was light on his feet and doing a nice job of getting in and out with his leg kicks. Gane caught him a few times in the first round. Gane did some clinching in the second round.
Gane’s switching stances was keeping Lewis at bay and those leg kicks. In the third round, Gane caught him with a right hand then poured on more strikes for the TKO win. Gane is the new interim champion and will fight Francis Ngannou at a later date.
Peep the highlights of the fight courtesy of the UFC’s official Twitter account:
In his previous three fights, Lewis got a TKO win over Aleksei Oleinik in August 2020, beat Ilir Latifi by decision at the UFC 247 pay-per-view event on February 8, 2020, and then beat Curtis Blaydes by TKO at UFC Vegas 19. Before that, Lewis beat Blagoy Ivanov at the UFC 244 pay-per-view event from Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York prior to him losing by second-round TKO to former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos in the headliner of UFC on ESPN + 4 on March 9, 2019 from Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
Gane picked up a few wins under the TKO banner where he finished all of his fights before going to the UFC. He beat Raphael Pessoa by submission in his promotional debut with the UFC. Since then, he got decision, submission and KO victories. He beat Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC Vegas 20 by decision and then over Alexander Volkov at UFC Vegas 30th by decision.
UFC 265 Results: Derrick Lewis vs. Ciryl Gane, Jose Aldo vs. Pedro Munhoz
