An undefeated record with six consecutive wins in the UFC still wasn’t quite enough for Ciryl Gane to graduate from prospect to contender but that all changed on Saturday night.
The French heavyweight put on a dominant performance before stopping Derrick Lewis in the third round to claim the interim UFC title and set up an eventual showdown with his former teammate Francis Ngannou.
In his last two fights against Alexander Volkov and Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Gane won comfortable decisions but heavyweights are rarely afforded the luxury of winning five-round fights without absorbing some kind of criticism for not getting the finish.