Home favourite Ciryl Gane scored an impressive knockout win over Tai Tuivasa in the main event of a UFC Fight Night at the Accor Arena in Paris, France on Saturday night, re-affirming himself as the top contender in the heavyweight division.
Gane moves to 11-1 in his career and bounced back from a loss to Francis Ngannou for the heavyweight championship in January of this year, while Tuivasa drops to 14-4 and sees the end of a five-fight win streak.
After a relatively quiet first round, the fight exploded midway through the second when Tuivasa landed a huge right to take Gane off his feet, but the Frenchman recovered well and hurt his opponent with some brutal body blows.
Gane continued to dominate in the third with a combination of lightning-quick jabs and brutal kicks to Tuivasa’s midriff, before a stunning uppercut signalled the beginning of the end for ‘Bam Bam’, as the Frenchman landed a flurry of blows and forced the referee to wave off the fight just over 30 seconds before the bell.
“No words, just listen,” said Gane of what it meant to fight in his home country, amid an incredible atmosphere in Paris. “Nobody expected this from the fans of France, I am so happy. Mercy, mercy, mercy! (thank you, thank you, thank you)”
As for his next ambition, the 32-year-old simply stated: “I want that belt.”
The co-main was a high-class middleweight match between top-ranked contenders Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori, with the former putting in a precise display of striking to take the victory via unanimous decision and possibly put himself in position to have a third crack at division king Israel Adesanya.
“I’m stoked for it,” said ‘The Reaper’ after his victory. “All the respect for Vettori, you have to go all the way. I was hurting him, I hit pretty hard, credit to him.”
Whittaker added, “Including the champion, I’m the most dangerous man in the division.”
The main card opened with two featherweight fights, as Nathaniel Wood and William Gomis outpointed Charles Jourdain Jarno Errens respectively, followed by two middleweight matches in which Roman Kopylov knocked out Alessio Di Chirico just over a minute into the first round, before a thriller between Nassourdine Imavov and Joaquin Buckley which saw the former hold off a late surge from the latter to claim a unanimous decision triumph.
The next event is UFC 279 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on the morning of Sunday 11 September, headlined by a welterweight clash between Khamzat Chimaev and Nate Diaz.
UFC Fight Night: Gane v Tuivasa – Main card results
-Main event: Heavyweight: Ciryl Gane def. Tai Tuivasa via KO (punches), R3, 4:23
Co-main: middleweight: Robert Whittaker def. Marvin Vettori via unanimous decision (30-27 30-27 29-28), R3, 5:00
Middleweight: Nassourdine Imavov def. Joaquin Buckley via unanimous decision (29-28 29-28 30-27), R3, 5:00
Middleweight: Roman Kopylov def. Alessio Di Chirico via KO (punches), R3, 1:09
Featherweight:William Gomis def. Jarno Errens via majority decision (29-28 29-28 29-29), R3, 5:00
Featherweight:Nathaniel Wood def. Charles Jourdain via unanimous decision (30-27 30-27 29-28), R3, 5:00