An interim heavyweight championship tilt pitting Derrick
Lewis against Ciryl Gane
has been added to the UFC
265 pay-per-view lineup on Aug. 7.
UFC president Dana White informed broadcast partner
ESPN of the booking, which came about because reigning
heavyweight king Francis
Ngannou wouldn’t be ready to defend his belt by August. The
promotion tried to book Ngannou vs. Lewis in June and again at UFC
265 without success.
Lewis vs. Gane will officially serve as the UFC 265 main event, and
the card will take place in Houston. Amanda
Nunes will defend the bantamweight crown against Julianna
Pena in the evening’s co-headliner.
Ngannou’s team was surprised by the suddenness of the interim
championship announcement. The Cameroonian-born Frenchman claimed
the heavyweight throne with a second-round KO of Stipe
Miocic in the UFC 260 headliner on March 27.
“This comes as a complete shock,” Ngannou’s agent, Marquel Martin,
told ESPN. “To make an interim title so soon, if you look at the
history of this division, it comes as a surprise.
“Francis is just now returning to the States to begin training, and
he just won the title three months ago. We’re unsure of what the
reasoning is behind this, but we hope to get clarity soon and
figure out something with the UFC soon. At the end of the day,
they’re in control of these decisions.”
Lewis defeated Ngannou in a lackluster three-round decision at UFC
226 in July 2018. “The Black Beast,” who is a Houston native, is
currently on a four-bout winning streak within the Las Vegas-based
promotion and is coming off a second-round knockout of Curtis
Blaydes in the UFC Fight Night 185 main event on Feb. 20.
Gane is 9-0 since beginning his professional MMA career in 2018, a
ledger that includes six triumphs in the Octagon. The Frenchman has
scored back-to-back five-round verdicts over Jairzinho
Rozenstruik and Alexander
Volkov in his last two promotional appearances. The triumph
against Volkov this past Saturday didn’t particularly impress
Lewis, however.
“Karate sparring match,” Lewis wrote on Twitter.