It was deja vu for Ciryl Gane on Saturday, as he bounced back from a title-fight loss with a stoppage win at UFC Paris – just as he did 12 months ago.
In January 2022, the French heavyweight was outpointed by then-champion Francis Ngannou, before knocking out Tai Tuivasa in Paris in September.
The latter bout headlined the first ever UFC event in France, and it set up Gane to face Jon Jones for the vacant title this March – two months after Ngannou left the company and relinquished the belt. Again Gane came up short with the gold on the line, losing to Jones via first-round submission.
On Saturday, however, Gane responded in positive fashion once again, in the same arena where he beat Tuivasa.
Gane, 33, dominated Moldova’s Sergey Spivak for the best part of two rounds, outstriking the grappler and employing impressive body work in particular.
Gane ultimately secured the finish at 3:44 of Round 2, bringing an end to Spivak’s three-fight streak of stoppage wins. In doing so, the former interim champion moved a step closer to third shot at the undisputed title.
Jones defends the belt against heavyweight ‘GOAT’ Stipe Miocic in November, with Sergei Pavlovich serving as the back-up fighter at Madison Square Garden.
Britain’s Tom Aspinall is also in the title picture, having returned from injury in July to finish Marcin Tybura in the first round at UFC London.
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