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UFC heavyweight elites Derrick Lewis and Ciryl Gane will fight for the interim heavyweight gold in the headliner of UFC 265. The UFC proceeded with this angle after sidelining the reigning champion Francis Ngannou completely.

During an interview session at UFC 264, ‘The Black Beast’ appeared before the media and detailed his next fight against Gane. Lewis even talked about the fighting style of Gane.

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“They told me what I’m going to get paid if I’m fighting Francis, and they told me what I’m getting paid when I will fight Ciryl, so it don’t matter to me so I don’t care,” Lewis said.

‘The Black Beast’ further explained that he’s going to be paid the same amount for fighting Gane, as he was promised to fight Ngannou.

Lewis then proceeded to talk about his next opponent. “Ciryl Gane is a good opponent. He is dangerous, you know. He is boring most of the time but he is smart, he is a smart fighter.”

“So it still going to be a fun fight with me. It doesn’t matter if he is gonna try to stay away and do all his little fancy kicks and stuff like that. But I will still have my moments in the fight,” he added.

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Lewis and Ngannou were initially heading for a fight later this year for the undisputed belt. But the fallout between Ngannou’s team and UFC pushed the promotion thinking about the aforementioned fight.

Derrick Lewis vs Ciryl Gane- recent stats

Lewis (25-7) is currently riding a 4 fight win streak. His last win came against a dangerous Curtis Blaydes at UFC Fight Night 185. He picked up an impressive second-round KO win over the ‘Razor’.

via Imago

Prior to this, he had picked up a TKO win over Alexei Oleinik at UFC Fight Night 174. With this win, he also set a UFC record for most wins via KO/TKO. His last loss came against Junior dos Santos in the headliner of UFC on ESPN+ 4.

Gane meanwhile, is still undefeated in his MMA career with 9 straight wins. His last win came recently against Alexander Volkov at UFC Fight Night 190 via unanimous decision. He had previously beaten Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC Fight Night 186 via unanimous decision.

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via Imago

Bon Gamin‘ also had an impressive outing against former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos. The former defeated the latter via TKO at UFC 256.

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With some impressive performances of late, Gane has managed to fetch himself an interim title match. But he will face his toughest challenge yet as Lewis is currently enjoying the form of his life.

Who do you see prevailing in the end?