The UFC's first event in France went virtually as well as it could have and that was capped off by a really fun main event that saw Ciryl Gane best Tai Tuivasa via knockout late in the 3rd round. I thought that this fight really had a little bit of everything and played out about as well as the UFC could have wanted from an entertainment standpoint. It really showcased everything this fight had to offer before we got the knockout. This only further clogs up the top of the heavyweight division, which is just a really strange situation overall. We have a lot to talk about on that front, so let's not waste anymore time.
Ciryl Gane fought very well and I think that may have been my favorite performance of his as he did a lot of things that I wanted to see from him. I think I said it in the preview, and if I didn't then I thought it to myself, but I wanted to see a slightly more aggressive version of Gane and that is exactly what we got. Gane is a tremendous athlete and a really advanced heavyweight striker, but we already knew those things coming into this fight. My concern for him, not just in this fight but more in general, is that he sometimes lacked a sense of urgency and was too content to just jab and kick from the outside. Obviously, we know what the fans want and how the excitement factor can impact how a fighter gets pushed, but it was more than that for me. I felt that if Gane was going to continue to fight to decisions in main events or title fights, that would eventually come back to hurt him. At heavyweight, having to fight for 25 minutes is an extremely dangerous game to play as it only takes one punch to end the night, especially against the caliber of opponent that he's going to be fighting for the foreseeable future. I thought if Gane fought with just a touch more urgency and pushed just a little bit to finish fights, he would minimize the risk that comes with fighting extended minutes every time out. Being more aggressive comes with it's own risks of course, but I thought Gane balanced that perfectly in this one. He was aggressive in going after Tai and wasn't just trying to point fight him. At the same time, he didn't diverge too far away from his natural game of being an athlete and using his speed and movement. Clearly, Gane is never going to be Mark Hunt and just go into the pocket, trade, and come out on the other side a winner, which is not what I'm implying and wouldn't suggest that either. Besides the increased aggression, Gane was still able to fight his general style. He used his speed and superior technical striking to limit Tai's offense and was landing some really nasty kicks to the body, which is really what finished the fight. Tai was so hurt to the body that he really wasn't able to stand up straight and that opened up the punches for the finishing sequence. We even got to see Gane respond to adversity after he was rocked by Tai in round two. The way he fell made me think initially that he was out cold, but after he hit the ground, he immediately grabbed onto a takedown attempt and recovered enough to get back to his feet. We've never seen Gane in that situation before, so it was good to see him respond well. He also got clipped later on and reacted perfectly fine. It didn't think Gane was made out of paper or anything, but it was good to see nonetheless. Even though he was dropped, I thought it was a really good looking performance for Gane and I think the newfound aggression will serve him well.
I saw something about Gane having a problem with his hand, but I'm not sure if that was real or not because it was only one tweet. Hopefully his hand is doing just fine and only needs some rest and not anything more, but even if it does, he should have plenty of time to recover. Heavyweight is really messy right now and a lot has to figure itself out, so there's no need to rush Gane along. I imagine that the Heavyweight title is going to have something going on in December, one way or another. Ariel Helwani has said a couple of times now that the UFC wants to make Jon Jones vs Francis Ngannou as the main event for the December PPV. Between Ngannou's knee injury and his contract, that doesn't seem particularly likely. Whenever they realize that isn't going to happen or use the leverage they have as much as possible, they'll pivot and try to make Jon vs Stipe. Apparently Stipe is a bit lukewarm on the idea of a return at all, but I find it hard to believe that he would miss out on that type of pay day and the opportunity to fight Jon. That would likely be an interim title fight and then depending on exactly happens with the Ngannou situation, that may require a unification bout (if Ngannou returns to the UFC). That means that a potential number one contender doesn't necessarily need to be named until around the same time that the title is unified. I think the more likely scenario is that the UFC strips Francis (unless he signs back and doesn't do any boxing matches) and he goes and boxes Tyson Fury and doesn't re-enter the UFC title picture until closer to mid or the latter half of 2023. Even then, the winner of Jon vs Stipe wouldn't likely fight until the middle of the year anyways, so Gane has plenty of time. Whenever he is healthy and the fight actually makes sense to be booked, I have to imagine Gane will be fighting Curtis Blaydes. With Tom Aspinall out of the picture for now, I don't really even know what the other options would be. I suppose Gane could slide into a potential interim title fight with Jon if Ngannou isn't available and Stipe just doesn't want to fight anymore. That is a fight that I would want to see, but I don't know that Blaydes would get left in the dark like that, especially since he's had more social media interaction with Jon than Cyril Gane has. I suppose that they could make Gane fight Sergei Pavlovich, but that just seems like a strange fight to make. Gane vs Blaydes should be the plan until the UFC is forced to do something else in my mind.
Tai Tuivasa didn't get his hand raised, but he fought a great fight and I think he earned even more fans, if that's even possible for him. Tuivasa was able to give Gane the toughest fight on the feet that he's ever had and dropped him in the second round. There's no moral victories in this sport, but let's be honest with ourselves for a moment. Only a couple of years ago, Tai was on the verge of being out of the UFC completely and he turned that around and found himself in a title eliminator against maybe the best pure athlete that the heavyweight division has ever seen. To do that and almost find the knockout punch is an incredible story and Tai deserves credit for that. He also showed incredible heart and toughness as he was fighting through a ton of damage and wouldn't back down. He was eating body shot after body shot and was being nearly crippled by some of them. He would bend down in pain and then stand up and fire back just enough to keep Gane off of him. He was cut, bruised, and battered and still managed to clip Gane with a left not too long before the finishing sequence. Tai was at virtually every disadvantage that someone could have in a fight and he was able to find his one opportunity. It just so happened that Gane was able to get back up, but even that was really impressive. Considering how many advantages Gane had over him, the fact that Tai even had a moment to potentially win was really all he could've asked for coming into it, but it didn't go his way this time. I don't think this loss drops his stock that much at all. He's still a fan favorite and won't drop down too far in the rankings I imagine.
With the update to rankings only moving him down to 4th behind Curtis Blaydes, Tuivasa will still have plenty of options for his next fight. I suppose a matchup with Blaydes could be in the cards if Gane ends up sliding into an interim title fight, but that isn't particularly likely in my mind. The most likely fight right now in my mind for Tai is Sergei Pavlovich. He's new to the upper tier of the division after knocking out Derrick Lewis and would make for a pretty fun fight as he has massive power, so that fight would almost guarantee violence. It would be an easy fight to sell and there's really no reason not to make it in my opinion. Alexander Volkov and Jairzinho Rozenstruik are also potential options, but they feel a bit farther away and not really in the same tier at the moment. I wouldn't hate those fights, but they would feel a little strange. Those are fights made just for the sake of keeping someone active and giving them a fight more so than being made to serve an actual purpose or answering a question within the heavyweight rankings. For me, it's the Pavlovich fight and then go from there for Tai.
What do you guys think? What is your takeaway from the fight? Who do you want to see these guys fight next? Leave any and all thoughts and comments below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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