UFC 265 results: Ciryl Gane pummels his way to third-round TKO stoppage of Derrick Lewis

In the UFC 265 main event, Ciryl Gane defeated Derrick Lewis via third-round TKO to win the interim heavyweight title.

[autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag] hit his three-year anniversary as a competitive MMA fighter this past Monday. On Saturday, he had a UFC interim title wrapped around his waist.

In the UFC 265 main event, Gane (10-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) went into enemy territory and defeated [autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] (25-8 MMA, 16-6 UFC) by TKO at the 4:11 mark of Round 3.

The interim heavyweight title bout took place at Toyota Center in Houston. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+.

The crowd popped for both fighters, though Gane only for a short time. When the “Still Tippin'” beat dropped for Gane’s walkouts, the crowd erupted – until they realized it was the opposition. Lewis followed and was met by a louder, more confident bellowing from the Houston faithful.

In Round 1, Gane fought from a distance. He was not deterred by any boos that came his way from his timidity. Lewis stayed on the outside and ate strikes of the point-fighting attack of Gane. From time to time, Lewis exploded when Gane broke his rhythm, but “The Black Beast” was unable to land much of anything significant.

In Round 2, it was more of the same until Gane grabbed hold of Lewis against the fence. After a half-dozen knees to the thigh, they broke and the pace returned to the repetitive song and dance.

In Round 3, leg kicks took their toll on Lewis, who remained on the counter-attack and almost always stationary. As the leg kicks piled up, Lewis became less and less mobile. Gane’s output grew as he sensed Lewis was hurt. While Lewis survived multiple bursts of onslaught attack, he could only for so long.

After a brief stoppage for referee Dan Miragliotta to reunite Lewis with his mouthpiece, Gane blitzed. Lewis turned his back and dropped to the canvas. Gane jumped on his back and landed hammerfists until the stoppage came.

With the win, Gane keeps his undefeated MMA record intact. The French heavyweight made his professional MMA debut in August 2018. He signed with the UFC with a 3-0 record and went on to defeat Alexander Volkov, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Junior Dos Santos, among others, prior to his interim title opportunity.

In order to unify the titles, Gane will need to defeat reigning undisputed titleholder Francis Ngannou, who used to be one of his main training partners prior to the champion’s training shift to the United States.

Initially, Ngannou (16-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) was expected to defend his title against Lewis. However, when Ngannou expressed his hopes in a later date, the UFC implemented the interim title. Ngannou has not expressed a new timeline for his return, but UFC president Dana White has indicated he hopes to book the fight by the end of 2021.

As for Lewis, “The Black Beast” has his four-fight winning streak snapped. UFC 265 marked his first loss since a TKO defeat to Junior Dos Santos in March 2019. Saturday was Lewis’ second UFC title opportunity. The first was a submission loss to Daniel Cormier at UFC 230 in November 2018.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 265 results include:

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