Ciryl Ganes has been an interim champion heavyweight, but Saturday’s UFC Paris main show saw him make a star with his knockout victory.
With a large crowd behind him, Gane waged a fierce back-and forth battle with Tai Tuivasa. It was a thrilling encounter that proved to be incredibly rewarding. After he was nearly finished in the second round, Gane came back to punish Tuivasa to the body with a series of kicks that set up a devastating combination of punches that finally put a stop to the fight.
As Tuivasa crumbled to the canvas, referee Marc Goddard rescued him from further harm as the end came at 4:23 in the third round with Gane rising up to celebrate the moment with the Paris crowd.
“Honestly Tai hit me so hard, he knocked me out,” Gane said afterwards. “He put the lights out, I fell down but I had to be a warrior. I got up and that’s what I did. I was stronger than ever and won .”
In his first fight back since coming up short in his bid to become undisputed UFC heavyweight champion, Gane was fast on his feet as he blasted Tuivasa with a variety of kicks including several hard shots to the legs and then going to the body. As he was finishing those strikes, Tuivasa kept moving forward and looked ahead to release the sledgehammers at the ends of his arms.
Gane was showing fast footwork to stay out of range from Tuivasa’s monstrous punches and then countering with a quick lead jab that started to connect in succession. The same jab paid dividends as Gane moved into round two, but Gane was careful to avoid Tuivasa’s hook.
That’s exactly the moment when Tuivasa cracked Gane with a huge shot that dropped the French heavyweight to the canvas. Tuivasa was determined to take out Gane, but Gane managed to weather the storm and get back on his feet.
From there, Tuivasa continued to look for the end but Gane punished him with several body kicks that almost folded “Bam Bam!” in half. The kicks were doing so much damage but Tuivasa was still dangerous as he continued launching bombs at Gane any time he had a second to unleash his punches.
Following an insane five minutes, Gane and Tuivasa attempted to top that with a wild third round that saw both fighters throw caution to the wind again. Gane continued to stab Tuivasa in the back with kicks, but the Australian fighter refused to give up.
As he made a valiant attempt at a comeback, Tuivasa rushed forward with another series of haymakers except this time he was met with a devastating counter right hand from Gane. The punch landed clean as Tuivasa’s head spun on a swivel and that was the beginning of the end.
Gane unleashed several more shots until Tuivasa couldn’t take anymore as he fell to the ground in a heap to end the fight. It was an unbelievable ending to an all-time great heavyweight war.
Following the win to get him back on track after falling to Francis Ngannou in January, Gane was all smiles while proving yet again that he remains a constant threat to the UFC heavyweight title.
“No matter who [is next], I go back to the belt, please,” Gane shouted. “I want the belt. That’s all I want.”
