UFC Paris Preview
The UFC will be heading to France for the first time in company history on Saturday September 3rd for a UFC Fight Night at the Accor Arena in Paris. The main event will be in the heavyweight division with major title implications between #1 Ciryl Gane and #3 Tai Tuivasa.
Gane is trying to rebound from his last fight in which he lost a battle for the title to champion Francis Ngannou at UFC 270 in January. The defeat was Gane’s first loss of his career after starting 7-0 in the UFC. He will have the added advantage or pressure of fighting in his own backyard in France. Gane explains what he has learned from his first loss. "This is have an experience and this is put on my mind. You are a competitor; you don't like to lose. I was in the flawless since I started my career four years ago. I was in the flawless, everything was ok for me. See it looked like a little bit easy and boom, first loss. This puts some questions in your head,” said Gane.
The 32-year-old went on to say, "The question is what I must do now, what I want, what I really want. Then I go back to the gym with more motivation. The mission at every training is to finish the training tired... because I'm a lazy guy. This is my mission to be better and better. Really better."
The French fighter talked about what fighting in France means to him. “We were waiting for this date because the UFC was looking for this date, and it wasn’t possible to have this date in Paris without me,” Gane said. “I’m really happy; this is a good moment for me,”
Gane is a former interim heavyweight champion and has proven that he has skills that many heavyweights do not possess. He moves exceptionally well for a fighter who is 6’5 and 240 pounds. He uses elite footwork and angles to out-strike his opponents and he will certainly be a challenge that Tuivasa has yet to see. He has key victories in his career over Derrick Lewis, Alexander Volkov, Jairzinho Rozenstruick and Junior Dos Santos.
Tuivasa has won five straight fights having most recently defeated Derrick Lewis by KO at UFC 271 in February. The 29-year-old has finally thought about the reality with a win over Gane on Saturday. “I first considered winning a title just probably a couple of months ago when my son brought the fact that I don't have a belt up,” Tuivasa told Yahoo Sports. “That was really kind of the only time I ever really thought about it. And now, I'm like, ‘OK, well, my son thinks I’m pretty s*** unless I have a belt. So I suppose it's time to get a belt,” said Tuivasa.
The Australian fighter went on to say, “I'm just glad to be doing what I love,” Tuivasa said. “And I'm glad to be feeding my family [by doing] something that I love and enjoy, and that's fighting. Like I said, if I keep learning, if I keep getting better, I think the best of me is yet to come.”
Tuivasa knows what kind of challenge Gane represents. “His speed, his athleticism, the way he moves [are what makes him so difficult],” Tuivasa said. “I think it’s all obvious. We know what he’s good at. And I’m sure he knows what I’m good at. But I think what I’m good at is not known until it’s known, if that makes sense.”
Tuivasa knows he has tremendous power and does not mind being known for that and not having as much skill as Gane. “Obviously, as a fighter, you have to be wary of what the other person’s good at,” he said. “But I feel like I’m underestimated a lot. And to me, I don’t really mind. I’m not bothered about all that politics side of shit. You know, I come in, I win, I get paid, and I go out and go party.”
Tuivasa has collected veteran type experience in the octagon and is still not 30 years old. Aside from Lewis, he has key victories over Augusto Sakai, Greg Hardy, Stefan Struve, Andrei Arlovksi and Cyril Asker. In order to defeat Gane he will need to make the fight a brawl and use his power to overwhelm Gane early. The real question will be, if Tuivasa makes it to the later rounds does he still possess the power he has in the first round.
The co-main event of the night will be a middleweight fight that also holds title implications between former champion #1 Robert Whittaker and former title challenger #2 Marvin Vettori. Whittaker is trying to rebound from his last fight which he lost by unanimous decision in a rematch with champion Israel Adesanya for the title. The Australian has only lost twice since 2014, both defeats have come to Adesanya.
Whittaker made his UFC debut in 2012 but feels his best days are still ahead of him. “The best years are coming up, I feel like I’m just coming into my prime and my peak condition,” Whittaker said to ESPN. “I think I have the best fights ahead of me. The motivation for the work is my family, they’re the biggest driver, they’re the reason why I sweat and bleed as much as I do. I’m fighting for something bigger than myself.”
With a win over Vettori the former champion believes a third fight with Adesanaya is in his future. “The fight with Izzy was a hard-fought fight. I thought I did a lot of things right on the night,” Whittaker said. “But I didn’t get the nod that night and it is what it is, you can’t cry on it, you can only get back to the gym, get back to work and focus on the next one. But I did a lot of things right, I landed some successful takedowns and I threatened the takedowns a lot, my jab was on point, my counter striking was on point; defensively I think I did a good job of nullifying his main attributes. But it is what it is… the next fight between us, I think there’ll be a lot of different things I can take advantage of, and then move differently [as well].”
Whittaker has key wins in his career over Kelvin Gastelum, Jared Cannonier, Darren Till, Yoel Romero (twice), Jacare Souza, Derek Brunson, Uriah Hall and Brad Tavares. A win on Saturday would solidify Whittaker’s place as the best middleweight in the world not named Israel Adesanya.
Vettori is coming off a win by unanimous decision over Paulo Costa in October. The fight was a big rebound after he lost by unanimous decision in a title fight against Adesanya at UFC 263 last June. Vettori has no lost love for Adesanya and has thoughts on his next title defense. "The things that he Israel Adesanya can do best now is painting his nails. I definitely like more Pereira, the way he carries himself and the way he goes about fighting. Not much bullsh*t, straight bad motherf*cker type thing, I like him,” said Vettori.
Vettori seems to be looking beyond Whittaker and to another title shot. He said during his media day appearance that “he is improving, and Whittaker is not.” The 28-year-old would make a case for a second title shot with a win on Saturday regardless of who is champion.
Aside from Costa, the Italian has key victories over Kevin Holland, Jack Hermansson, Karl Roberson and Andrew Sanchez. Vettori has a forward pressure style which has caused problems for Whittaker in the past. It will be interesting to see if Whittaker makes adjustments to counter Vettori’s constant pressure.
The Rest of the Main Card:
Middleweight - Alessio Di Chirico vs. Roman Kopylov
Lightweight - John Makdessi vs. Nasrat Haqparast
Featherweight - William Gomis vs. Jarno Errens
Featherweight - Charles Jourdain vs. Nathaniel Wood
ESPN + Prelims:
Middleweight - Abus Magomedov vs. Dustin Stoltzfus
Lightweight - Farès Ziam vs. Michal Figlak
Middleweight - #12 Nassourdine Imavov vs. Joaquin Buckley
Lightweight - Benoît Saint-Denis vs. Gabriel Miranda
Bantamweight - Khalid Taha vs. Cristian Quiñónez
Women's Featherweight - Stephanie Egger vs. Ailin Perez
