Gane thrills home crowd with knockout victory against Tuivasa at 1st UFC event in France
France's Ciryl Gane (11-1-0), a former interim heavyweight champion, stopped Australian Tai Tuivasa (15-4-0) in the third round of a main event slugfest on a UFC Fight Night card Saturday in Paris.
Tuivasa almost knocked Gane out in the second round but the French fighter somehow survived to punish Tuivasa with a string of body shots. Gane, a chiselled 247 pounds, repeatedly targeted the 266-pound Tuivasa's soft midriff before felling him with a string of punches at four minutes 23 seconds of the round.
The show at Accor Arena was the UFC's first in France, which adopted regulations allowing MMA in January 2020. Former welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre of Montreal was cageside for the event.
"This is destiny!"<br><br>[ <a href="https://twitter.com/ciryl_gane?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Ciryl_Gane</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UFCParis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UFCParis</a> ] <a href="https://t.co/leaI5pbN7j">pic.twitter.com/leaI5pbN7j</a>
Gane is ranked No. 1 among heavyweight contenders compared to No. 3 for the hard-hitting Tuivasa, who came into the fight with 11 first-round finishes.
In the co-main event, former middleweight champion Robert (The Reaper) Whittaker (24-6-0) won a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) decision over Marvin (The Italian Dream) Vettori. The New Zealand-born Australian is ranked No. 1 among 185-pound contenders while Italy's Vettori (18-6-1) is No. 2.
Canadian featherweight Charles Jourdain lost a unanimous decision to England's Nathaniel Wood earlier in the event.
The judges scored it for 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 for London's Wood after a tight fight contested in close quarters with both landing shots.
At five foot nine, Jourdain had a three-inch height
