USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, Sept. 6: Ciryl Gane making moves at heavyweight, P4P
A former interim champion is back on the rise in the UFC.
Ciryl Gane (11-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) knocked out the streaking Tai Tuivasa (15-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC), who had won five straight by knockout, in the third round of the UFC Fight Night 209 main event this past Saturday. To make it even sweeter, he did it in front of his home fans in Paris in the UFC’s debut in France.
Gane needed to rebound after heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou beat him in a title unification bout in January, and he did so in a big way – including by showing some resilience after Tuivasa had him hurt.
The champ still is above him at No. 1, but Gane’s win was enough to push him past former titleholder Stipe Miocic and back into the No. 2 spot. It also gave him a bump into the pound-for-pound rankings thanks to his long-term dominance.
Check out all of the moves following UFC Fight Night 209 in Paris and ahead of Saturday’s big UFC 279 show in Las Vegas.