After two rounds of picking apart Lewis, Ciryl Gane engaged in a firefight with the dangerous “Black Beast” and came out victorious.
Things in UFC 265’s pay-per-view (PPV) main event tonight (Sat., Aug. 7, 2021) went about as people expected … right up until the end.
For the first two rounds, Ciryl Gane picked apart Derrick Lewis on the outside, sliding away from “Black Beast” anytime he loaded up on his infamous right hands. But, in the third round, something changed. Gane stopped breaking off after each exchange. He charged in and took on Lewis head-to-head. And he won the war, beating up Lewis along the cage and dropping him to the canvas where ground-and-pound forced the referee to stop the bout.
Official verdict: a win for Gane via technical knockout at 4:11 of round three.
Watch the highlights here:
CIRYL GANE BEATS DERRICK LEWIS VIA TKO AND IS THE INTERIM HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP pic.twitter.com/blH9TuAyEY
— Mismatch (@MismatchSports) August 8, 2021
Complete domination by @ciryl_gane #UFC265 pic.twitter.com/ObgQkLdaYD
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 8, 2021
Meet your FIRST France-born UFC champion @Ciryl_Gane
[ #AndNew | #UFC265 ] pic.twitter.com/Yvr2z22YIq
— UFC (@ufc) August 8, 2021
The new interim HW champ @Ciryl_Gane has something to say #UFC265 pic.twitter.com/VZFP92uA1B
— UFC (@ufc) August 8, 2021
After the fight, Gane had a simple message for his former teammate and current non-interim UFC hHeavyweight champ, Francis Ngannou: “Let’s go.”
Considering Gane didn’t take much damage and Ngannou was pretty upset that his request for a fight in September wasn’t met, could we see the two face off sooner rather than later? We’d sure love to see the heavyweight titles come together as soon as possible.
The win puts Gane at 7-0 in UFC (10-0 MMA), while Lewis drops to 15-6 in UFC (25-8 MMA).
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