In a shock twist, the UFC has pulled the pin on waiting for Francis Ngannou to announce he’s ready to defend his belt.
Instead, Dana White has announced that two top contenders of the heavyweight category will instead battle it out for the interim title. With Francis Ngannou left out in the cold, with the UFC world fuming.
Derrick Lewis will get his second shot at the belt, after falling short against Daniel Cormier at UFC 230 in November 2018. He’ll have his work cut out for him, with the undefeated Ciryl Gane standing in his way, ready to take it for himself.
Lewis is riding a four fight winning streak, more recently stopping Curtis Blaydes in February. A return after consecutive losses to Daniels Cormier and Junior Dos Santos, he now boasts twenty knockout victories in 25 wins.
A notorious knockout artist, Lewis is a powerful striker, and a single blow in the right spot is usually all he needs.
Ciryl Gane is undefeated, and goes into this bout as the odds on favourite. A technical striker, the frenchman is ready to continue his climb to the top, with Lewis the next challenger on his radar.
“So the plan is make pressure, touch him, but he’s not going to touch me. I think it’s going to be my game plan like every fight: touch the guy and never get touched.
I touch him and he never touches me. Something like that. And if it’s possible, finish the fight before the end. I’m going to try.”
Gane has an equal record of wins, submissions, knockouts and decision wins, usually preferring low-risk striking masterclasses to the highlight-reel knockouts we’re used to seeing in the heavyweight category, more specifically from Lewis.
As a co-main, the GOAT champion of the women’s divisions, Amanda Nunes is back. She’s seeking her sixth consecutive title defense of the bantamweight belt and her eighth straight successful title defense, having not lost a fight since 2014.
She’ll go up against Julianna Peña, who made history becoming the first woman to win The Ultimate Fighter. She goes in the underdog, but many have warned not to underestimate the Venezuelan.
Women’s flyweight champion, Valentina Shevchenko had this to say on Peña.
“I think Julianna has a lot of chances, and definitely she poses a lot of physical challenges to Amanda, a lot of grappling maybe,” Shevchenko told Middle Easy.
“This is what she’s going to do, right? She’s not going to stand with Amanda and strike with her and decide who has the stronger punch. I don’t think this is the idea of the fight, and I think she has a lot of opportunities to find the key for victory. It’s MMA, you never know what’s going to happen the next second.”
It’s all going down Sunday 8 August, find out where to watch below.
MAIN CARD
Heavyweight Interim Bout
Derrick Lewis vs Ciryl Gane
Women’s Bantamweight Title Bout
Amanda Nunes vs Julianna Peña
UNDER CARD
Jose Aldo vs Pedro Munhoz
Vincente Luque vs Michael Chiesa